Henry Heerup was a Danish painter, graphic artist and sculptor. From 1948 till 1951 he was part of the CoBrA movement, together with  Asger Jorn, Karel Appel, Constant and Corneille. This terracotta sculpture is most likely a figure of which he did several in 1935. Amongst many is a similair one (“Mask”, 1935, H 22 cm, terracotta, Collection of Brandts, Denmark),currently part of the Heerups museum show on Heerup’s and Carl Henning Petersen’s exhibition at the Venice Biennale in 1962. Similarity in motif can be found with Heerups granite sculpture from the same year, a portrait of his mother, Sera, whom he often portrayed. Heerup did not often do clay models for his granite sculptures, but he did make sketches. This work can be seen as an independent work from which he possibly drew inspiration for the granite portrait. (Source: Heerup Museum)