The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

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

Wood and organic materials
Overall: 63.6 cm (25 1/16 in.)
Gift in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph M. Coe from various donors 1967.152
Location: 108A African

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.
  • by at least 1967
    (Mathias Komor, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1967-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • “Year in Review.” Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art vol. 54, no. 10 (December 1967): 302-347. Reproduced: p. 340, fig. 43 (detail); Mentioned: p. 342, no. 43 www-jstor-org.ingallslibrary.idm.oclc.org
    Meauzé, Pierre. African Art: Sculpture [1st ed.] ed. Cleveland: World Pub. Co., 1968 Reproduced: pp. 48-49 ingallslibrary.on.worldcat.org
    null p 48-49, illustrated (1968, as M. Komor collection)
  • Year in Review: 1967. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 29-December 31, 1967).
  • {{cite web|title=Figure (baàthíl)|url=false|author=|year=c. 1900|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1967.152