Baule Blolo or Spirit Spouse Figure

Red and blue. Nobody on the Baule side of the argument is subtle about it.

The Baule hold that a world runs parallel to ours, and that each of us has a spirit spouse there. A figure like this gives that partner somewhere to be honored. This male blolo, carved in wood in the 20th century, stands thirteen inches tall on a small round base, arms close and slightly forward. The face is red under a dark swept-back coiffure, the eyes heavy-lidded. The body is painted blue, suggesting a fitted garment. Hands and feet, red. Where the paint has worn away, the wood shows.

Tailored, in the other world, too.