Beschreibung:

Baule Seated Figure, Côte d'IvoireWood with varied shiny brown and black patina Height 17 1/2in (44.5cm) Provenance Michel Gaud, St-Tropez/Nice French Private Collection Werner Gillon noted, "Both standing and seated Baule figures of males and females are of an almost unearthly serenity, dignity and beauty. Though the Baule have an ancestor cult they do not carve ancestor figures: the male and female images carved by them are either figures to accommodate the dangerous spirits of nature or they are spirit lovers. These are made on the recommendation of a diviner either to provide a home for the nature spirit or for the pre-natal lover, for the jealousy of the spirit lover and the dangerous activities of nature spirits may be assuaged by these carvings. When first produced there is no difference in the images to distinguish nature spirits from spirit lover but as the latter is fed from a bowl, always cleaned and fondled, its patina will be smooth and shiny, while the sacrificial offerings made to the nature spirit image are simply thrown over it and therefore the figure becomes encrusted and dirty. Details are always well carved, the hairdress carefully incised and precisely detailed and faces and bodies have raised cicatrice marks. Baule figures usually have small mouths, finely modelled eyes with delicately carved lids and eyebrows continuing into the line of a straight nose." (Collecting African Art, Macmillan Publishing Co., New York, 1979, p. 63-64)