Hannya Mask

The terrible news about Liverpool’s museums and its collection was well known by museum curators across the country. In December 1946, Basil Gray, Keeper of Oriental Antiquities at the British Museum contacted Liverpool Museum staff at their new home in Carnatic Hall, in South Liverpool. Gray had been offered a small group of Japanese objects for the British museum by a Miss A Winch. He didn't want them but he knew that Liverpool "are anxious to make good some of the losses sustained by your Museum through enemy action". Liverpool Museum was in the early stages of rebuilding its collection and was happy to accept the donation, which included this Noh theatre mask Hannya an evil demon who was once a beautiful woman.