Baule Blolo or Spirit Spouse Figure

The spirit spouse, restless. The remedy, in Baule country, is wood.

The Baule hold that a world runs parallel to ours and that each person has a spouse there. Should that spirit spouse become restless, a figure can be carved and tended to restore harmony. This blolo bla, a spirit wife, was carved in the Ivory Coast in the 20th century. Just over a foot tall, she sits and leans forward slightly, hands resting on her abdomen, the stomach marked with white scarification.

Her body is a strong red, with black hair and outlined eyes, and a white wrap with black dots at the hips. Exposed wood on the legs shows age.

Harmony, it seems, can be a sitting arrangement.