Baule Blolo or Spirit Spouse Figure

The beads are real. That was the point: to adorn, and in adorning, to care for.

This fourteen-inch Baule spirit spouse was carved in Ivory Coast in the 20th century. Figures of this kind represented a person’s partner in the parallel world of spirits, and adding beads or cloth was one way of tending them. A strand of small white beads encircles the neck. The body is painted red, with a sculpted coiffure rising in lobes and incised eyebrows over a downcast face. The hands rest at the abdomen above a dark loincloth and banded waist. The red is worn to the wood in places, and the round base is roughly finished.

Modest eyes. Immodest necklace.