A seated Baule diviniation figure - image-1 A seated Baule diviniation figure - image-2 A seated Baule diviniation figure - image-3

Lot 19 D α

A seated Baule diviniation figure

Auction 1263 - overview Brussels
26.02.2025, 14:00 - Art of Africa, The Pacific and the Americas
Estimate: 15.000 € - 20.000 €
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A seated Baule diviniation figure
Ivory Coast

56 cm

These are special figures, commissioned by the diviner with specific and detailed instructions like the figure's required physical appearance, posture, scarification marks, jewelry and hairstyle, transfered to him by the "asye usu" spirit itself during a dream.

According to Alisa LaGamma the level of artistry directly affects the owner's ability to prophesize by seducing nature spirits and inducing them to divulge insights into the human condition. The largest, oldest and most elaborate Baule figure sculptures are made as the focal points for spiritula beings that possess their human partners and send messages through them in a trance state.

Provenance

Collection privée, J. de N., Paris
Collection privée, Brussels
Guy Loudmer, Arts primitifs, 27 juin 1991, lot 139

Literature

Cover piece of the catalogue Cornette de Saint Cyr, Paris, 26 October 1998