Seated male figure for a komien (trance diviner)
Baule artist Baoulé
This idealized male figure, composed of a series of harmoniously intersecting planes, was intended to entice an unruly asye usu, or nature spirit. Kept in a diviner’s shrine room as one half of a male-female pairing, it would have served as the spirit’s seat during consultations to determine the underlying cause of a client’s concerns, including physical maladies. The prominence of an Akan-style seat of office underscores the historical ties between the Baule culture and more centralized Akan groups in Ghana.
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