African Mask Baoulé 1762

Description: Ref: m-1762Height 29 CM Product Description Baoulé mask. Piece over 50 years old. Delivered on base. In African art, the art of the Baoulé occupies a special place. The fineness of execution of Baoulé masks and Baoulé statues makes them particularly accessible to Western tastes. Baoulé wood sculpture has the finesse of goldsmithing: the sculpture is very refined, the surfaces are very polished, the representation of scarifications, jewelry, hairstyle, face is done in a careful and meticulous manner. Among the African Baoulé statues we can identify two main types: * Baoulé statues of husbands from the afterlife (blolo bla) or wives from the afterlife (blolo bian). * Baoulé statues representing a spirit or genius of nature with the aim of appeasing them. The Asiè usu ("genius of nature") statues are less frequent than the (blo bla). The difference to differentiate them from each other is the following. The genius of nature is always seated while the husband of the beyond is always standing. In Baoulé statues, we can distinguish between evocations of nature spirits (with a sacrificial patina) and those of spirits conducive to romantic relationships (with a polished patina). The first type of statue represents the bush spirits with ambivalent power, as is often the case in Africa, who are feared for their malevolence: The statues of these bush spirits are honored to appease them and acquire their good grace and protection. There are Baoulé masks of ancestors. Baoulé masks have the same characteristics as the statues: elegant, finely sculpted and polished. Otherwise there are zoomorphic Baoulé masks, reminiscent of the buffalo and the antelope. These masks are always worn by men. They have a different realization from the Baoulé masks portraits of ancestors, they are more conceptual and schematic because they represent spirits. The Baoulé occupy a part of central Ivory Coast that is both savannah and forest. Baoulé statues The Baoulé statues correspond to 2 different types of worship: One corresponds to the husband (wife) of the afterlife who, in order to be appeased, demands the creation of a Baoulé statue in the image of the husband (wife) of the afterlife and an altar in the hut of the individual concerned. The need to have a husband or wife from the afterlife is signaled by misfortunes and through a dream. For example, it is the result of sexual problems in men and sterility in women. A man will have his wife blolo bian as a statue and a woman will have her husband from the afterlife blolo bla. This Baoulé statue should be taken with you on all your trips. Its owner washes it, dries it, feeds it, caresses it: hence the beautiful patina of this type of work. After the death of its owner, the blolo bian or blolo bla statuette is thrown away or abandoned. The other type of Baoulé sculpture will represent a spirit and will have the role of appeasing it. The Baoulé statues of spirit or genius of nature are always seated while the spouses of the afterlife are always standing. We distinguish between the asi asu nature spirits with a sacrificial patina and the spirits conducive to romantic relationships with a polished patina. The spirits of the forest and the bush are imagined as being hideous: hunchbacked, feet turned backwards, dirty skin, red hair, with enormous eyes and only one arm... Very dangerous, they can have a harmful effect on agriculture, hunting, health. When coaxed through sacrifices, they can become propitious to humans. It begins with a consultation with the diviner who identifies the cause of the misfortunes and prescribes remedies, consisting of having Baoulé statuettes sculpted for which he indicates the sex, attitude, hairstyle and wood to use. The sculptor creates the Baoulé statuette by drawing inspiration from the physical appearance of his possessed and tranced client. After the death of its owner, the Baoulé statuette is carefully preserved and the cult is continued by descendants. The harmonious appearance of the statuettes of these nature spirits comes from the fact that the latter would not inhabit them if they were given the hideous forms which are theirs. These Baoulé statues have an idealized human appearance, with beautiful hairstyles and ethnic tattoos, which give them a civilized air that makes them favorable to those who practice their religion. On these asi asu we notice traces of sacrifices: food, raw eggs, blood of the victims, hence the crusty patina. Baoulé masks The Baoulé have masks, no doubt under the influence of their Gouro or Senufo neighbors. There are Baoulé masks of ancestors but which now have a secular role and appear during entertainment dances. These portraits have the same characteristics as statuary: elegant, finely sculpted and polished. They show great regional diversity in hairstyles and tattoos. . The double Baoulé mask represents the marriage of the sun and the moon or of twins whose birth is always a good sign. Otherwise there are zoomorphic Baoulé masks, reminiscent of the buffalo and the antelope. They are always worn by men. They have a different realization from the Baoulé masks portraits of ancestors, they are more conceptual and schematic because they represent spirits. In the past they were worn during funeral ceremonies to attract graces from the afterlife, cure illnesses and ward off sorcerers. These Baoulé masks correspond to 3 types of dances: the gba gba, the bonu amuen and the goli: The gba gba, of Gouro origin, is used for women's funerals during the harvest period. It celebrates beauty and age, hence the delicacy of its features. The amuen bonus protects the village from external threats. He forces women to have strong discipline and he appears during commemorations of the death of notables. The bush spirits have their own sanctuary in which they receive sacrifices. When the spirits intervene in community life, their masks are in the form of wooden helmets representing a buffalo or an antelope and are worn with raffia costumes and metal bracelets on their ankles. The muzzle has teeth symbolizing the strength of the animal that must defend them. The Goli can be danced both for entertainment and at funerals of important people. It was borrowed from the Wans after 1900. The kple kple mask has a round shape, topped with two horns. The male mask is red, the female mask is black (sometimes the other way around in some villages). They often appear in pairs in the Goli dance and are followed by a pair of zoomorphic helmet masks (Goli Glen), then a pair of horned face masks (Kpan Pre) and finally two man-headed masks with braided crest hairstyles (Kpan). Although each mask pair includes both masculine and feminine elements, the first two pairs are considered to have primarily masculine personalities. Goli masks are larger and heavier than other Baoulé masks. There is also a divination instrument called a mouse oracle, consisting of a piece of pottery placed on a wooden base. The oracle is composed of two communicating floors. On the upper floor, the diviner places food next to a turtle shell containing small bones or a piece of iron to which small sticks decorated with pearls are attached. We put the lid on the box and wait for the mouse to come up and eat the food. The box is then opened and the diviner deciphers the message by analyzing the arrangement of the sticks or bones moved by the mouse. The Baoulé also created figures of monkeys, with a prognathous jaw with pointed teeth, a grainy patina due to sacrifices, the monkey holds a cup or pestle in its hands. Sometimes the monkey would intervene in divination rituals, sometimes it would be a protection against sorcerers, sometimes a protective divinity of agrarian rites, sometimes a genius of the bush. This cult would be relatively recent. The Baoulé sculptor and his characteristics The profession of sculptor is not hereditary and results from a personal choice or a desire that manifests itself during a dream or a crisis of possession. Among the Baoulé, there is a great mobility of people and works of art. These trips are an opportunity to order a new type of sculpture or to adopt a new type of dance from another village. Artists may have learned in a workshop and produce works very different from that workshop. Artists travel and may sometimes work for clients who live far from home. The Baoulé have a wood sculpture which has the qualities of goldsmithing: extremely refined sculptures, highly polished surfaces, representation of scarifications, hairstyles, and jewelry made in a careful and meticulous manner. Baoulé statuary is characterized by a certain realism, with the Baoulé canons of beauty: round calves for women, long hands with slender fingers, small buttocks. The harmonious hairstyle is made of many finely braided plaits. The beard is groomed and sometimes braided. The patina is smooth. The Baoulé religion and rituals The Baoulé believe in a creator god called Nyamien, intangible and inaccessible. The earth god named Asia who controls men and animals. Spirits or Amuen are endowed with supernatural powers. The real world is the opposite of the spiritual world, called blolo, where souls come from at birth and return to at death. Religion has as its main precept the recognition of death and the immortality of the soul. Ancestors are worshipped but not represented. In the past, death was never considered natural. So we were looking for the person responsible. The heir was the brother or sister born of the same mother as the deceased, because it was considered that there was no certainty of being the real son of his father. Rituals can evolve. The creation of a new cult can be decided following a dream or a crisis of possession during which the spirit reveals itself to the dreamer or the possessed and explains the ritual, the rules and the objects that he must acquire or make. Wooden sculptures and masks help create a closer contact with the supernatural world. The Baoulé believe that an individual consists of a body, a double and a soul. Each being would have a respondent in the other world: blolo. Statues are dedicated to this celestial figure to which offerings are made. african art african tribal art arte africana afrikanische kunstAfrican art, African maskPart delivered with an invoice and a certificate of authenticity. The other type of Baoulé sculpture will represent a spirit and will have the role of appeasing it. The Baoulé statues of spirit or genius of nature are always seated while the spouses of the afterlife are always standing. We distinguish between the asi asu nature spirits with a sacrificial patina and the spirits conducive to romantic relationships with a polished patina. The spirits of the forest and the bush are imagined as being hideous: hunchbacked, feet turned backwards, dirty skin, red hair, with enormous eyes and only one arm... Very dangerous, they can have a harmful effect on agriculture, hunting, health. When coaxed through sacrifices, they can become propitious to humans. It begins with a consultation with the diviner who identifies the cause of the misfortunes and prescribes

Price: 720.17 USD

Location: Bastia

End Time: 2025-01-08T08:25:03.000Z

Shipping Cost: 48.68 USD