A male Baule sculpture, Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast, standing on an oval base, the delicate feet supporting short muscular legs ending in prominent buttocks, wearing a loin-cloth around the hips, a slender torso with a pointed navel, emphasized pectoral muscles and nipples, rounded shoulders leading to fragil arms carved close to the body, elongated hands touching the abdomen, the torso is decorated with scarification marks on the front and the backside, the cylindrical neck supporting a round head, a striated beard, an open mouth, a short nose, large protruding almond-shaped eyes, the eyelids highlighted, further scarification marks at the corners of the mouth, the temples and above the nose bridge, and on the neck, the sculpture is capped by a striated three-parted coiffure; heavy encrusted patina, traces of age and ritual use, several cracks. Provenance Mr. Cabinet.

Lit.: Susan M. Vogel: Baule: African Art Western Eye, 1997; Bernard de Grunne: Über den Baule-Stil und seine Meister. In: Eberhard Fischer/Lorenz Homberger: Afrikanische Meister. Kunst der Elfenbeinküste, Zurüch 2014, p. 81-106; Alain-Michel Boyer: Baule. Visions of Africa, Milan 2008.

sold

Height: 60 cm
Weight: 2.10 kg