Standing female figure "blolo bla" ·  Côte d'Ivoire, Baoulé · ID: 3035930

Description

wood, matt blackish brown patina, wispy body in characteristic posture, proportionally large head with projecting diadem-shaped coiffure, carved with neck-band and delicate scarification marks, slightly dam., cracks (shoulder and base on the right), abrasion of paint (facial features), base;
both hands rest on the belly near the navel, as if to draw attention to it, perhaps in reference to the Baule expression “bla yolè ngwan nyama” - “the woman holds the rope of life”.
Nèreè Onésiphore Morel (1892-1963) was a colonial officer in Oubangui Chari in French Equatorial Africa (he stayed there between 1928 - 31). He brought the figure to France, where it was inherited within the family.