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Baule Female Figure Spirit Statue OLD African Sculpture A Beautiful Old Baule Blolo Bla Female Figure Other World Spirit Mate StatueAntique African Art - Tribal Sculpture - Cote d'Ivoire Collected from the: Baule peoples of Cote d'Ivoire region of West AfricaMaterial: Carved wood, seed beads, skin oilPeriod: Early to mid 20th centuryDimensions: 18.25" height, 3" width, 4.5" depth; weight is 1.95 poundsCondition: Exceptional. From a private Houston collection, exquisite signs of age with wear from extensive tribal use, age cracks test stable, tool marks and surface condition are appropriate for the earlier period, recess display the anticipated accumulated residue of daily life. Make special note of the surface condition; age, handling, wear and skin oil from ritual rubbing culminated in a glorious patina that accentuates the serene presence of this gorgeous carving. Please click on the photos below to fully appreciate this important old spirit! And be sure to see the exquisite AFRICAN SCULPTURES in our eBay store! Or explore our extraordinary Private Collection of AFRICAN ARTIFACTS Click Images to Enlarge Baule Baoule Blolo Figures Other World Spirit Mate SculpturesThe Baule are renowned for their figurative sculptures. These carvings represent two distinctly different types of wooden people or 'person in wood' (waka san); bush spirits (asie usu) who live in nature outside the human settlement act as intermediaries to the spirit world, or Other World spirit mates (blolo) who reveal themselves through dreams. The term 'mate' has been found to be more appropriate than the earlier reference to 'spouse' as the Baule do not consider themselves married to these other world people and view them more as a mate or lover. The blolo are brought down or created through skilled divination and consultations with the 'real-world' human, then expertly carved into statuettes that conform to the Baule vision of physical aesthetics. The Blolo statues are treated as honored guests, given a special place or area of residence, and offered sacrifices of money, food, and libation that usually consisted of chicken blood and/or eggs. Surfaces may exhibit signs of sacrificial libations or a deep oily patina from being rubbed on the owner's skin. One night of the week is reserved, to be spent alone with the blolo to receive and mate with this 'person' through dream visitations. Pairs of sculptures often have males that are smaller than the females - this may allude to the female bush spirit that guides and protects its human partner who is male. Alternatively it may refer to woman's greater spiritual power. Ravenhill notes that male statues outnumber female statues by at least five to one. Matched couples were utilized by trance diviners and are therefore scarce. Baule Baoule Tribal History"The Baule represent one of the most important tribes of the central Cote d'Ivoire region of West Africa. Their name is testimony to their birth - according to legend, Queen Aba Pokou led her people on an exodus towards the gold mining areas during the 18th century and had to cross a river where she was obliged to sacrifice her oldest son to the river god, thus giving her people the name Bauli, 'the son is dead'. During the 19th century, the queendom disintegrated due to internal conflicts and by the beginning of the 20th century, when the French colonials arrived, they found only a network of villages, headed by councils of venerated men.", according to Bacquart. The Baule are known for their figurative carvings of statues and masks, along with their figurative decoration of everyday objects such as doors, boxes, heddle pulleys, drum tappers, and gold and bronzes pendants and jewelry designs which clearly display a strong influence from their Akan ancestry. 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