Ivory Coast
Baule

Metal, wood, rope, red cloth
ca. Mid-20th century

Height: 11.5 inches
Idiophone – Struck Directly – Gong Beater – Metal Gong

This small wooden gong beater (“lawle”) with its metal gong comes from the Baule people of the Ivory Coast. Iron gongs would be beaten with the sculpted hammer by religious priests or shaman, men or women locally known as “Komien,” the title given to diviners among the Baule. This well sculpted striker reflects not only technical skill to shape the beater end into a sculpted form but also to carve the handle into a figural motif. This is the highly developed aesthetic sense of form and design of the Baule people. Signs of age and usage. ‘

Handheld P-shaped wood beaters like this, known as lawre waka or lawle, are used in the Ivory Coast by diviners (komien) to strike a flat, flanged iron bell whose steady beat helps to induce and maintain a trance state. The entranced speaks with the voices of nature spirits to prescribe cures. The bell’s sounding may last for hours, and after it is silenced may resume if the trance begins to wane. The handles of these mallets are typically carved to represent a coil, but in this example that motif has been replaced by an elegantly sculpted female figure with an elaborate coiffure. Aligned within the padded crescent-shaped striking portion of the mallet is a masklike dje (steer) head that also helps to transform a musical accessory into a work of art. Lawle are one of only a few items in which the Baule people incorporate dje heads.