25 - Female statuette

Female statuette the torso adorned with concentric half-moon-shaped scarifications Hardwood, with an old brown and reddish patina; shows signs of use and age. Baoulé, Republic of Côte d’Ivoire 34 cm This female figure stands on sturdy legs, her arms extended away from her body. The upper torso bears scarifications in the form of stepped arcs, arranged with great regularity. The face, with an introspective expression, is adorned on the forehead with raised scarifications and on the temples with fan-shaped scarifications. Studied by Susan Vogel, these fan-shaped marks, called ngole, are among the oldest Baoulé scarifications. Placed on the temples and between the eyebrows, they signified a beautiful, well-groomed, and socially accomplished person. Torso decoration is rarer: the chest was rarely scarified around the breasts, and sculptors liked to accentuate the relief of the body markings. These tiered arcs are likely the result of the artist’s own interpretation. These statuettes may have represented a husband or wife from the other world, or served as vessels for nature spirits consulted during divination. General Bibliography: Susan M. Vogel, “Baule Scarification: The Mark of Civilization,” in Arnold Rubin (ed.), *Marks of Civilization: Artistic Transformations of the Human Body*, Los Angeles, Museum of Cultural History, UCLA, 1988, pp. 97–105. Susan M. Vogel, *Baule: African Art, Western Eyes*, New Haven, Yale University Press, 1997.