Superb quality early wooden Baulé Male Figure ‘Blolo Bian’
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Directory: Antiques: Regional Art: African: Sculpture: Pre 1930: Item # 1490000
Directory: Antiques: Regional Art: African: Sculpture: Pre 1930: Item # 1490000
$1,950.00
A very high quality early wooden figure, Ivory Coast, Baulé, early 20th. century.
The figure appears facing the front, symmetrical with its arms resting on its stomach, which was a sign of peace for the Baulé people.
Wonderful facial expression even for the elaborate type, with its half-closed eyes, which resembles coffee grains, that give the face a serene expression. A well-trimmed beard below the jaw and Aa particularly refined hairstyle on this figure, can be attributed to people of high class. The scarification on the body, as well as having an aesthetic function, also tell us which ethnic group it belongs to. The pronounced calves are characteristic of the oldest Baulé works. Its feet, isolated from the earth, represent the image of an idealised being who lives in the afterlife. He is adorned with a cotton scarv and a necklace of torquise and glass beads, which is old but probably not originally belonging to the figure.
Size: 46,5 cm. tall and 52 cm. incl. the permanently mounted black wooden base.
Condition: Extremely fine for the type, a few old age cracks, no repairs or chips
A particularly artful figure in a large size with beautiful surfaces.
Refference: See British Museum (Af1956,27.30) for a figure, which was probably made by the same artist. Another figure of a seated female figure by the same hand is also illustrated in Paul S Wingert, ‘The sculpture of negro Africa’, New York 1950, pl.XIX.
Provenance: Ulf Gudmundsen Tribal art collection, c. 1950s-2007. Ulf was a Danish collector of Tribal woodcarvings, and his collection was especially rich on high quality Yoruba figures. This figure was aquired at Steen Strømberg, an Antiquites dealer in Copenhagen, c. 2000, bought from the Estate auctions over Lau Sundes Estate.
Ex. Private collection of the Danish Tribal arts dealer Lau Sunde (shop in Copenhagen, who probably had the best collection of africana ever formed in Scandinavia. This figure was aquired by Lau Sunde in the 1950s-60s.
The figure appears facing the front, symmetrical with its arms resting on its stomach, which was a sign of peace for the Baulé people.
Wonderful facial expression even for the elaborate type, with its half-closed eyes, which resembles coffee grains, that give the face a serene expression. A well-trimmed beard below the jaw and Aa particularly refined hairstyle on this figure, can be attributed to people of high class. The scarification on the body, as well as having an aesthetic function, also tell us which ethnic group it belongs to. The pronounced calves are characteristic of the oldest Baulé works. Its feet, isolated from the earth, represent the image of an idealised being who lives in the afterlife. He is adorned with a cotton scarv and a necklace of torquise and glass beads, which is old but probably not originally belonging to the figure.
Size: 46,5 cm. tall and 52 cm. incl. the permanently mounted black wooden base.
Condition: Extremely fine for the type, a few old age cracks, no repairs or chips
A particularly artful figure in a large size with beautiful surfaces.
Refference: See British Museum (Af1956,27.30) for a figure, which was probably made by the same artist. Another figure of a seated female figure by the same hand is also illustrated in Paul S Wingert, ‘The sculpture of negro Africa’, New York 1950, pl.XIX.
Provenance: Ulf Gudmundsen Tribal art collection, c. 1950s-2007. Ulf was a Danish collector of Tribal woodcarvings, and his collection was especially rich on high quality Yoruba figures. This figure was aquired at Steen Strømberg, an Antiquites dealer in Copenhagen, c. 2000, bought from the Estate auctions over Lau Sundes Estate.
Ex. Private collection of the Danish Tribal arts dealer Lau Sunde (shop in Copenhagen, who probably had the best collection of africana ever formed in Scandinavia. This figure was aquired by Lau Sunde in the 1950s-60s.
