Dan statue, Ivory Coast Wood H. 60.4 cm Provenance... Lot 22

Dan statue, Ivory Coast Wood H. 60.4 cm Provenance : Carlos Basso Collection, Barcelona, Spain Montagut Gallery, Barcelona, Spain Collcetion Rachel Montagut, Barcelona, Spain While Dan sculpture from the Ivory Coast is renowned for its aesthetic plasticity, characterized by the purity and harmony of the delicate modelling of its masks, its singular statuary in feet, combining powerful expressiveness and refined ornamentation, is much less well known. Belonging to an extremely limited corpus, "Dan sculptures are rare and are limited to one or another workshop in which a famous sculptor by the name of Zlan would have worked." (François Neyt, Trésors de Côte d'Ivoire, 2014, p.53) These imposing female figures, called lü me, "wooden person", are neither ancestral figures nor representations of spirits. Living portraits, as all research reports on Dan statuary confirm, these subjects, generally "commissioned by chiefs from the best sculptors, are the portrait of the favorite wife. They are particularly meticulous and count among the finest sculptures of this type. P. Girard locates these effigies in the Tchien region, on the right bank of the Cavally, south of Toulépleu and Blolekin". (François Neyt, Trésors de Côte d'Ivoire, 2014, p.58), they can also be, as Himmelheber points out "pure works of art", created by sculptors with the desire to carve a beautiful figure. (Fischer, Eberhard and Hans Himmelheber, The Arts of the Dan in West Africa, Museum Rietberg Zürich, 1984, p. 117) Fischer and Himmelheber note: "Occasionally, one encounters full figures-generally female statuettes-in the possession of a Dan man. These are carved wooden images, 40 to 60 centimetres in length. They have eyes painted in white chalk, metal teeth, hair in the form of braided threads, and additions of jewelry or pieces of clothing. Compared with figures from other parts of Africa, these have relatively naturalistic proportions and details. [. .] Standing upright, she displays a dynamic posture, rendered by the contrast between the shape of her legs, slightly apart with pronounced muscularity, and her straight torso with angular shoulders, her arms detached from her trunk, seeming to announce and initiate movement, while maintaining her balance. Her beautiful, flattened, plunging conical breasts animate the bust and the whole body, intensifying its sensuality. The abdomen, the seat of fecundity, is magnified by a beautiful scarification frieze featuring finely engraved geometric motifs. Our gaze glides along the large neck to the captivatingly expressive face, whose naturalistic features capture our attention. The open, slender jaw, the rounded cheeks and the accentuated creases around the small, blunt nose intensify the focus on the open mouth and full lips. The meticulously grooved upper lip intensifies her particular beauty, while revealing the presence of her metallic teeth. The elaborate, sophisticated hairstyle, announced by an engraved, twisted headband, consists of a succession of neat braids falling delicately to the nape of the neck. The gaze, signified by two slight incisions set off by small, arched eyebrow arches, seems to probe the world with a concentrated expression. A rare and beautiful example of refinement, sensuality and character, whose powerful features and modeling are enhanced by the deep, intense black patina.