Baule Blolo or Spirit Spouse Figure

Everyone has a spouse in the other world. Ask the Baule. They will also tell you what to do when that spouse is being difficult.

You carve a figure. You honor it. You appease it. This blolo, a spirit spouse carved in wood in the 20th century, stands upright and painted a deep red, with a crested black coiffure, white-rimmed eyes and dark nipples. A white loincloth at the waist, pale bands at the wrists. A vertical crack runs through the chest, and the paint is worn at the high points. Thirteen and a half inches, Ivory Coast.

Courtship continues, evidently, on both sides.