A large male Baule of the Sakassou region, posted on a four leg stool, one hand touching the knee, the other holding an elongated goatee in it´s hand, the rounded head with a small protuding mouth, a fine slender nose, ending up in high aged brows. framed by large ovel eyes in the manner of the Sakassou style; the sculpture has a fine dark-brownish patina and scarifications all over the figure. First part 20th century.

The Sakassou style is one of the most sought-after and highly valued sculptures among Baule figures. The increasingly rare sculptures of this region were traded in international galleries and auction houses at very high prices.

Baule art is valued for its "peaceful concentration," its "introspective reflection" (Vogel, 1997: 28) and for the "classic" criteria of beauty it conveys, thus immediately and obviously appealing to Western sensibilities. The progress of time and advances in the work of researchers and scholars in identifying regional styles has seen certain criteria emerge that allow one to distinguish the rarest and most sculpturally remarkable works amongst the large corpus of Baule figures.

This sculpture can be visited in the Wolfgang Jaenicke Gallery, Berlin, during the running exhibition. An other sculpture of this excellent carver was sold in Sept. 2019 during a Baule exhibition.

2.800 - 3.400,- Euro

Height: 53 cm
Weight: 3,1 kg

A rare Baule sculpture of the Sakassou
region, sold recently