A beautiful old "racing" mask with a bulging forehead, circular eyes and a sensitive, beautifully prominent mouth. "The Belgian botanist Jean Houzeau de Lehaie, in his tireless quest for all the bamboos in the world set off for the first time in May 1933 from Dakar by car, accompanied by the Belgian ethnologist Frans Olbrechts, who was able to acquire 17 Dan masks that have since become the propertý of the Tervuren museum. As Bertrand Goy notes (Goy, Un masque Dan, Paris, galerie Bernard Dulon, 2018), dissatisfied with the inactivity of his role as chauffeur during this first trip, Houzeau de Lehaie made another trip to the Sudan in 1934, from Senegal to the Ivory Coast, from which he brought back considerable botanical, entomological and ethnographic material, including 140 Dan masks. Eighteen of these round-eyed masks were meticulously reproduced in his unpublished sketchbook bequeathed to the Tervuren museum. Half of his finds found their way into the museum, but Houzeau kept a number of masks, spoons and other everyday objects that have been reappearing on the market́ since the 1960s. This mask was selected́ in 1963 for inclusion in the remarkable exhibition Art d'Afrique dans les collections belges at the Musée de Tervuren in 1963." (Grunne (de), December 2024). Dan, Ivory Coast Wood, fabric, fiber, metal, resin, a few scratches and chips visible, very fine patina of age and use, on the reverse several old inventory numbers and an old inscription probably: 1H2R (J,Houzeau de Lehaie) and J.V.S.71 (Jef Vander Straete), "Toula Adienva". H. 23 cm Provenance: Acquired in situ by botanist Jean Houzeau de Lehaie between 1933-1934. Collection Jean Houzeau de Lehaie (1867-1959), Mons, Belgium Jef Vander Straete (1904-1984), Lasne, ca. 1963-1971 Baudouin de Grunne, Wezembeek-Oppem (inv. n°359) Marc Blanpain Collection, Brussels, acquired 2000 Publications and exhibitions: Maesen and Van Geluwe, Art d'Afrique dans les collections belges, 1963, p. 55, n°312 , Tervuren, Musée Royal de l'Afrique Centrale, June 29 - October 30, 1963 Sotheby's, New York, The Baudouin de Grunne Collection of African Art, May 19, 2000, no. 9 Grunne (de), Dreams of Beauty: African Sculptures from the Blanpain Collection, 2005, cat. 24, Luxembourg, Banque Générale du Luxembourg, October 25 - December 2, 2005 Giquello, Paris, Blanpain Collection, December 6, 2024, no. 15