An Attie sculputre, Akoupe region, Ivory Coast.

The Attié people, who inhabit the southeastern region of Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), particularly around Akoupé, produce a compelling and distinct sculptural tradition that reflects both their local cosmology and their historical interactions with neighboring Akan-speaking groups such as the Agni and Baule. Though less internationally recognized than Baule or Guro art, Attié sculpture stands out for its bold expressiveness, symbolic density, and ritual significance.

Attié sculptures—often in the form of figures, staffs, and ritual objects—are traditionally used in healing, divination, and ancestral veneration. Carved figures, both male and female, are typically marked by elongated bodies, angular limbs, and intense, almost confrontational facial features. These figures may be adorned with scarification patterns, metal inserts, or beads, and sometimes wear miniature garments or amulets. The heads are often disproportionately large, emphasizing the seat of spiritual power and vision, a common theme in many West African traditions.

In the Akoupé region, such sculptures are often used by diviners and spiritual leaders, known as komian, who serve as intermediaries between the human and spirit worlds. The sculptures are sometimes consulted in divinatory practices to diagnose illness or misfortune, or to establish connections with ancestral spirits who guide and protect the community. Others may be kept in shrines or family altars, where offerings are made to maintain harmony and invoke blessings.

Unlike the polished serenity of Baule statuary, Attié figures often convey a more charged presence, sometimes appearing tense or dynamic, with arms raised or bodies leaning forward—gestures that suggest agency, power, or vigilance. This energetic quality reflects the Attié understanding of the spiritual world as active, responsive, and closely involved in human affairs.

As scholar Jean-Paul Notué describes:
“Attié sculpture asserts a forceful presence that transcends aesthetic convention. It is not meant to soothe or decorate but to awaken, to command attention, to anchor the spirit in form. In its angularity and tension lies a vision of the world where spirit and matter are in constant negotiation.”
(Masques africains: du rite à l’esthétique, 1993)

Gallerie Wolfgang Jaenicke, Sotheby's

sold

Height: 34 cm
Weight: 0,6 kg