Ivory Coast
Baule

Wood
Mid 20th Century
Length: 14.5 inches
Idiophone – Struck Indirectly – Shaken -Rattle

Baule figural ceremonial wand/rattle showing elder with both hands placed on beard. He is perched on middle carved open casing with rattle above the zoomorphic bird head with large beak.

Around one million Baule occupy a part of the central Cote d’Ivoire that is both forest and savanna land. According to the Baule, sculptures allow a closer contact with the supernatural world of ancestors. The ancestral statues, male and female, have a strongly marked, traditional style revealing a slender body, delicate face and high forehead.  Although the ancestor sculpture’s main purpose was to insure the beneficial presence of the ancestor, they had additional uses: to insure fertility, to prevent miscarriages, to bring about good harvests, and generally to promote personal well-being and prosperity.