Red Enameled Baule Spirit Spouse

The Baule people of Cote D’Ivoire traditionally believed in a parallel world inhabited by the not yet born, the deceased and spiritual help-mates of the living known as spirit spouses. Carved figures representing spirit-spouses were kept by believers in their quarters to be ritually appeased and cared for in order to assist them in the trials of their daily lives. This tradition did not simply end but rather withered gradually as the Baule westernized. Clothed and painted Baule figures are often described as “colons”, a term which overlooks the figures’ traditional purpose and suggests they are transitional or somehow impure. They are neither. They were made because someone felt they were necessary and they served the same function as older carvings rendered without clothing. Here, the spirit spouse is painted a pure shade of red, her lower half wrapped in a modest white skirt. As is typical of the genre, she sits square in her seat staring fixedly ahead. She dates to around 1955-1960 at the moment of independence and fittingly she exudes not only confidence, but an intense preparedness for whatever lies ahead.

17″

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