Liberia / Côte d'Ivoire Border Region Mid- to Late-20th Century, circa 1950–1980 Cast Copper-Alloy with Cowrie Shells and Textile Remains
This mask stops you. The face is long, composed, and completely in command — narrow slit eyes, a projecting nose, full lips, incised scarification, and a strong medial ridge that anchors the whole. It is the kind of restrained, disciplined presence that serious collectors of Dan, Mano, and Gio material recognize immediately: power expressed not through excess, but through control.
What sets this piece apart is its material. The face is cast in copper alloy — non-magnetic, with soft, variegated oxidation that deepens toward green in the recesses and warms to bronze at the ridges. You almost never see this in Dan-related masks. The form is fully traditional; the execution is something else entirely.
A dense surround of cowrie shells frames the face like a ceremonial coiffure — layered, textured, and immediate. In West African material culture, cowries carried meanings that accumulated over centuries: wealth, protection, fertility, and spiritual authority. Here they function visually as well, giving the mask a richness and density that raw metal alone could not achieve. Surviving textile remnants at the edges confirm the object's life as a used thing, worn and purposeful.
At 11 inches, the mask is physically accessible but visually large. It holds a wall, commands a shelf, and reads across a room. It would anchor a focused African art collection or hold its own in a broader display of sculpture and design objects. A custom stand is included.
Condition: Good. Characteristic greenish oxidation across the metal surface. A few cowrie shells absent, consistent with age and use.
Dimensions: Overall with stand 14 x 9 x 7.5 inches; Mask ony 11 x 9 x 3.5 inches (H x W x D)
Liberia / Côte d'Ivoire Border Region Mid- to Late-20th Century, circa 1950–1980 Cast Copper-Alloy with Cowrie Shells and Textile Remains
This mask stops you. The face is long, composed, and completely in command — narrow slit eyes, a projecting nose, full lips, incised scarification, and a strong medial ridge that anchors the whole. It is the kind of restrained, disciplined presence that serious collectors of Dan, Mano, and Gio material recognize immediately: power expressed not through excess, but through control.
What sets this piece apart is its material. The face is cast in copper alloy — non-magnetic, with soft, variegated oxidation that deepens toward green in the recesses and warms to bronze at the ridges. You almost never see this in Dan-related masks. The form is fully traditional; the execution is something else entirely.
A dense surround of cowrie shells frames the face like a ceremonial coiffure — layered, textured, and immediate. In West African material culture, cowries carried meanings that accumulated over centuries: wealth, protection, fertility, and spiritual authority. Here they function visually as well, giving the mask a richness and density that raw metal alone could not achieve. Surviving textile remnants at the edges confirm the object's life as a used thing, worn and purposeful.
At 11 inches, the mask is physically accessible but visually large. It holds a wall, commands a shelf, and reads across a room. It would anchor a focused African art collection or hold its own in a broader display of sculpture and design objects. A custom stand is included.
Condition: Good. Characteristic greenish oxidation across the metal surface. A few cowrie shells absent, consistent with age and use.
Dimensions: Overall with stand 14 x 9 x 7.5 inches; Mask ony 11 x 9 x 3.5 inches (H x W x D)
