Dan mask Ivory coast

Dan People, tribal mask

Ivory Coast, dark stained carved wood, accession number to inner rim.
Estimated age : end 19th/ early 20th c.
H= 23 cm -L= 12cm D= 6cm
H 9″h x L 4.75″w x D 2.5″d

Height on metal stand= 32 cm

Condition: Fair, fine aged patina, wood loss along bottom edge

Provenance: Karl Stirner, Easton PA. a Germany-born American sculptor known internationally for his metalwork, and his extensive collection of mainly West African Art.  ( more details on Karl Stirner Art work click here)

This appears to be an intricately carved wooden mask from the Ivory Coast or surrounding regions of West Africa. The mask has an elongated oval shape with stylized human facial features – narrow slit eyes, a pronounced nose, and an open mouth  .
The surface is dark, blackened wood, likely due to age, handling, and smoking/patination processes.

While those masks cannot identify specific individuals depicted, this style of mask was often used in passing of age from child to adult and circumcision.
The accession number or collection label mentioned suggests this particular mask comes from the personal collection of  Karl Stirner and has been catalogued or accessioned into a private or museum collection at some point.  If you recognise the number and have more information, please let me know.

The use of  mask by the Dan people

The Dan people of Ivory Coast and Liberia are known for their skilled woodcarving traditions, which includes distinctive masks like the one shown in the image.
Dan masks were traditionally used in religious ceremonies, initiations, and rituals related to areas like harvest, fertility, or appeasing spiritual forces. Some key points about the use and significance of Dan masks:
They were carved to represent idealized human faces or spiritual entities/forest spirits central to Dan spiritual beliefs.
Different mask styles represented different meanings – some depicted characters from folklore, others represented ancestral spirits.
Masks were worn during sacred dances and ceremonies by initiated male dancers who embodied the spiritual forces the masks depicted.
The masks were considered powerful objects imbued with spiritual forces and were treated with great respect during use in rituals.
Mask performances allowed communication with the spiritual realm and addressed issues like ensuring fertile crops, resolving conflicts, or honoring ancestors.
Besides religious rites, masks also featured in celebrations like funerals and the nomination of new village leaders.
So in essence, these intricately carved Dan masks played a vital role in the spiritual, religious and cultural practices of the Dan people by allowing deeper connections to the supernatural world when worn during sacred ceremonies and dances.

The Collection of Karl Stirner, Easton PA. Karl Stirner (born November 14, 1923 – died February 18, 2016) was a Germany-born American sculptor known internationally for his metalwork.[1] His work has been shown at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, etc.. He also collected ethnic arts.

Exhibition :The mask was exhibited by Easton sculptor Karl Stirner and Curlee Raven Holton, associate professor of art, in the exhibition, “African Antiquities,” in 2003 at the David A. Portlock Black Cultural Center, in Easton PA, USA.

A leading figure in the development of the arts in Easton, Stirner has collected objects of African antiquity for more than three decades. The exhibit features pieces from his collection, which once were displayed at a Madison Avenue gallery in Manhattan. “All works are African artifacts as well as antiques made and used by African peoples,” he notes. Most of the pieces in his collection hail from the Ivory Coast.
Stirner’s large African art collection is housed, along with his giant metal sculptures, in a 38,000-square-foot warehouse in Easton. His sculpture has been displayed in major museums throughout the country and internationally. Easton honored him in September 2000 by declaring “Karl Stirner Month.”