Standing female figure "blolo bla"

Description

wood, shiny blackish brown patina, belt and anklet with miniature glass beads, compact body with strong calves and round shoulders, fan-shaped arranged fingers resting on the belly, referring to the accentuated navel, elaborate hairdo with fine grooved crest and side lobes, regular facial features with incised pupils, mouth situated at the tip of the chin, face and body richly adorned with scarification marks, min. dam., cracks (back, left side of the head, base), wooden base;
Baule wood-carvers produced these figurines for two distinct, unrelated rituals. Some figures were used by fortune-tellers as “spirit beings” (“asie usu”), while others were assigned to childless couples as “wives” (“blolo bla”) and “husbands” (“blolo bian”) from the realm of the unseen. The figurine types are almost impossible to distinguish from each other, if once they have left their place of origin. Figures are generally termed “wooden people” (“waka sran”) by the Baule, who believe that every person has a partner who lives in the “other world”. With the help of fortune-tellers, these “blolo”-figurines can intervene in difficult situations or in crises in relationships. Such sculptures are especially useful for cases of childlessness. The infertile spouse spends several nights with a specially made figurine in order to conceive with the other spouse in a dream state. Offerings also encourage these “loved ones from the other world” to become active.