Baule Blolo or Spirit Spouse Figure

Blue shorts, white dots, a red body. The wardrobe of a spouse who dresses for the other world’s weather.

This thirteen-inch Baule figure from Ivory Coast was carved in the 20th century. The Baule held that a jealous spirit spouse could unsettle a person’s life, and a carved image was a way of acknowledging and appeasing that partner. He has a rounded black coiffure, white eyes and bared white teeth, hands clasped at the waist. The red paint is crackled and rubbed across the chest and arms. He stands on a rectangular wooden base with an unpainted, worn surface.

Appeasement, with a grin.