Early–Mid 20th Century
The Baule people of Côte d'Ivoire believed that every living person has a spirit spouse waiting in the invisible world — a husband or wife in the blolo, the realm that exists alongside our own. When that spirit spouse grew restless, a diviner would prescribe a remedy: commission a carver to render the spirit in wood, beautiful and composed, and bring it home. Feed it. Speak to it. Honor it.
At 31.5 inches, she is exceptional in scale — most blolo bla figures stand between fourteen and twenty-four inches. Her elaborately upswept coiffure, rendered with fine incised striations and twisted temple locks, marks her immediately as the work of a skilled and established hand. The face is classically Baule: high-domed forehead, half-closed eyes of composed interiority, small pursed lips. A rich program of incised scarification covers the torso front and back — leaf and chevron motifs forward, a formal herringbone panel across the lower back.
What distinguishes this figure beyond its size and carving quality is the unusual solid pedestal — a turned, vessel-form base carved in one piece with the figure, bulbous below and disc-flanged above. No comparable standard example stands on a base of this formal ambition. It transforms the figure from a private household object into something that commands space.
The patina is the deep, warm amber of genuine age — darkening appropriately in recesses, worn naturally at the high points. UV examination shows no modern surface treatment and no significant repairs. A stable crack to the right arm is structurally sound and long-settled. Condition is good to very good. No restoration.
A serious figure for a serious collection.
For context, a closely related Baule female figure and male figure are on view online at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art. https://africa.si.edu/collection/object/nmafa_85-15-2
https://africa.si.edu/collection/object/nmafa_2015-9-4
Condition: Good. Age-related wear/crack on the left arm.
Dimensions: 31.5 × 8 × 8.5 inches (H x D x W)
Early–Mid 20th Century
The Baule people of Côte d'Ivoire believed that every living person has a spirit spouse waiting in the invisible world — a husband or wife in the blolo, the realm that exists alongside our own. When that spirit spouse grew restless, a diviner would prescribe a remedy: commission a carver to render the spirit in wood, beautiful and composed, and bring it home. Feed it. Speak to it. Honor it.
At 31.5 inches, she is exceptional in scale — most blolo bla figures stand between fourteen and twenty-four inches. Her elaborately upswept coiffure, rendered with fine incised striations and twisted temple locks, marks her immediately as the work of a skilled and established hand. The face is classically Baule: high-domed forehead, half-closed eyes of composed interiority, small pursed lips. A rich program of incised scarification covers the torso front and back — leaf and chevron motifs forward, a formal herringbone panel across the lower back.
What distinguishes this figure beyond its size and carving quality is the unusual solid pedestal — a turned, vessel-form base carved in one piece with the figure, bulbous below and disc-flanged above. No comparable standard example stands on a base of this formal ambition. It transforms the figure from a private household object into something that commands space.
The patina is the deep, warm amber of genuine age — darkening appropriately in recesses, worn naturally at the high points. UV examination shows no modern surface treatment and no significant repairs. A stable crack to the right arm is structurally sound and long-settled. Condition is good to very good. No restoration.
A serious figure for a serious collection.
For context, a closely related Baule female figure and male figure are on view online at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art. https://africa.si.edu/collection/object/nmafa_85-15-2
https://africa.si.edu/collection/object/nmafa_2015-9-4
Condition: Good. Age-related wear/crack on the left arm.
Dimensions: 31.5 × 8 × 8.5 inches (H x D x W)
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