Fine Dan Mask, Côte d'Ivoire

Fine Dan Mask, Côte d'Ivoire
bagle
Wood, pigment, metal
Height 9 7/8in (25cm)

Provenance
New York Private Collection, reportedly purchased at auction in New York in the mid-1990s
Thence by descent to collector's widower

In hard, dense wood with exceptional shiny worn patina on the inside; finely carved with a forehead ridge of conical elements around the top brim; a central vertical ridge dividing the forehead above large arching brows, large squared eyes, naturalistic nose and open mouth above a pointed chin; pierced around the edges, the right having old eroded loss; a metal or fiber eye band now lost.