These Baule statues evoke an earth or bush spirit. These fearful spirits are thought to be ugly and deformed dwarfs or giants, and quite malicious. The Baule believe these spirits, like spirit spouses, can trouble a living being, and that it is possible to win their goodwill by having a statuette carved through which a cult is devoted to them. Thus, the diviner provides precise design instructions. The spirit in question, quite horrible looking, would be very flattered to see a beautiful statue consecrated to it. Such statues are never a portrait, but rather "a container in a human form." The introspective expression of the concentrated, thoughtful face is especially emblematic of the Baule character. Every detail of this statue displays the sculptor's painstaking care from the scarification marks, the almond shaped eyes and incised eyebrows and the braided beard.

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