Artwork Page for Figure (baàthíl)

Details / Information for Figure (baàthíl)

Figure (baàthíl)

c. 1900

Burkina Faso, Ghana, or Côte d’Ivoire, Lobi–style artist

Medium
Wood and organic materials
Measurements
Overall: 63.6 cm (25 1/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph M. Coe from various donors 1967.152
Public Domain
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Location
108A African
Print
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Did You Know?

Historically, figures like this baàthíl were associated with harmful spirits. Less common nowadays, they are used for different reasons, like to relieve suffering from malnutrition.

Description

This headpost (baàthíl) was likely a temporary sanctuary for khélé, a harmful spirit released after killing a person or dangerous animal. Around 1900, members of the Milkuùr religious association used baàthíla to counteract khélé. While the head resembles that of a teenage girl with pierced upper lip and earlobes, the roughly hewn, pole-like bottom suggests otherwise. Buried in an altar, devotees ritually applied materials that darkened the exposed head. When the owner died, the khélé left the sculpture; no longer sacred, it was buried. Milkuùr’s strict rules ensure these objects are made from the appropriate wood and that artists’ names remain secret.
Wood sculpture with a rough-hewn pale brown pole on which rests a black-brown face. The face's lips jut out, filled with a circular piercing, while the ears have the holes of piercings, the right ear's broken at the bottom. An outline of shape of the eyes is carved jutting out from the face with no other detail. A carved line separates the forehead from the smooth, rounded dome of the top of the head.

Figure (baàthíl)

c. 1900

Burkina Faso, Ghana, or Côte d’Ivoire, Lobi–style artist

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