Baule (Baoule, Bawule), Côte d’Ivoire

Door for an inner room with divination signs.  Around 1 million Baule occupy a part of the eastern Cote d’Ivoire that is both forest and savanna land. The Baule is one of the rare tribes where sculpture is produced for aesthetic appreciation as well as for ritualistic purposes. Now carved doors had largely disappeared from Baule villages. Some of them were completely visible on the outside of the house; others like this one were for interior rooms, and were seldom seen by anyone outside the family. The figure possibly represents a bush spirit. On either side of it, a trance diviner gong and mallet have been carved, joined by a cord. Two round dishes on either side of the figures are to feed this bush spirit.

Often images on such doors illustrated proverbs.

Carved doors were once quite common, but nowadays they seem to have disappeared from Baule houses.

Material:  wood
Size: 30½”x 15”x 1½”
[#U9BAO744]
Price:   $425+$70 (S&H)                                                        
Exhibited at the "Fertile, Frightful, Divine"show. New Brunswick, NJ. July 2011
http://thealternativepress.com/articles/raskin-family-african-art-collection-opens-at-alfa--2