Dan or Kran (We) Artist
Therianthropic Mask, Côte D'Ivoire/Liberia
kaogle/kagle
Presumed period: Late 19th/early 20th century
Wood, metal, nails, fiber cordage, oily and encrusted black patina
Height 9 ½ inches (24.1cm)
Provenance
John J. Klejman (1906 – 1995) Gallery, New York
Pennsylvania Private Collection
Sotheby’s, New York, 31 October 1994, lot 28
Myron Kunin Collection (1928 – 2013), Minneapolis
Sotheby's, New York, In Pursuit of Beauty: The Myron Kunin Collection of African Art, 11 November 2014, lot 17
Private Collection, acquired at the above sale
Exhibited Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, Masks from the West African Dan People, 12 June – 28 November 2010 Literature Gillon, Werner, Collecting African Art, Studio Vista/Christie’s, London 1979, p. 59, fig. 53
Masks of the cubistic style with angular features are often attributed to the Kran, located near the southern border area of Ivory Coast and Liberia. While the Kran did use them, many were collected from the Dan. (Louis Wells, personal communication, 13 May 2026) This exceptional example, carved in hard wood and pierced around the edges with round holes, bears a pierced open mouth with a serrated edge to the upper lip and a tongue carved in raised relief on the lower portion. The forehead ridge is enhanced with a row of fourteen inserted coiled metal buttons appearing to be bullet shells. Several nails remain on the upper and lower portions of the mouth, along with fiber cordage remnants on the lower jaw, presumably to hold a beard that once accentuated the lower half and further animating the mask when it was once danced. Accumulated veneration of black, oily ritual patination covers the top half of the mask, so heavily applied that remnants drip down the upper half of the back and through the eye piercings. The juxtaposition of the rounded and angular geometric forms and voids, the elegant proportions, together with the intense black surface, densely applied with ritualistic oils, elevates this mask to not only one of the finest known examples, but to an outstanding work of art as well.