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Female Spirit Spouse Figure (Blolo Bla)

Female Spirit Spouse Figure (Blolo Bla)

Currently unknown artist or artists (Baulé style)

West African artists have long transformed rare materials associated with wealth and status into beads for necklaces, bracelets, and other forms of personal adornment. This carved wood figure demonstrates how such adornments may have been worn. A spirit spouse is embellished with coral hip beads. The Baulé believe that each person has both an earthly spouse and a spirit spouse, the latter embodied in figures like this.
Artist/Maker
Currently unknown artist or artists (Baulé style)
Title
Female Spirit Spouse Figure (Blolo Bla)
Date
around the 20th century
Material & Process
Wood and beads
Dimensions
20 1/4 x 4 x 4 3/4 in. overall
Credit
Gift of Willy Haeberli in memory of his wife, Gabriele Haberland
Inventory No.
2022.24.11
Classification
Sculpture
Location
Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire)

Related

1969, in the collection of Anthony Brandt (New York, NY); Unknown date, acquired by Mr. and Mrs. Klaus G. Perls; 14 November 1995, sold in Sotheby’s (New York, NY) auction "Important Tribal Art... including African and Oceanic Art from the Mr. and Mrs. Klaus G. Perls Collection of Tribal Art" [sale 6773; lot 223]; 14 November 1995, purchased from Sotheby’s (New York, NY) auction by Gabriele Haberland and Willy Haeberli (Madison, WI); 2021, bequeathed by Willy Haeberli to the Chazen Museum of Art

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Information about artworks presented here may not reflect the most current research. Chazen staff update records as new details emerge; please verify independently for scholarly use and notify us of any errors.