Baule seat, Ivory Coast - Lot 50

Lot n° 50
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Estimation :
600 - 1000 EUR
Baule seat, Ivory Coast - Lot 50
Baule seat, Ivory Coast Wood, upholstery nails W: 42 cm H: 30.5 cm Provenance: French private collection Elegant old patina stool with curved seat decorated with upholsterer's nails. The legs are decorated with a scalloped frieze, with a small carved snake at the bottom. This type of stool is not specific to women, but to men, and is a seat of Ulimbi Bia chieftaincy power among the Baoulé. Very delicate sculpture, very elegant, antique upholsterer's nailing, small snake carved on the lower apron (very rare), very beautiful patina. Another chair from the former Pierre Guerre collection, then from the Al Thani collection, features a small turtle on each side of the low apron. It should be noted that this exact rectangular seat style is also found among the Agni, another Akan people neighboring the Baoulé. The wooden seats without sacrifices, called Bia, are reserved for the men and women of the customary chieftaincy. The others, reserved for annual sacrifices during the yam festival, are called Bia Bile "black seats", and are dedicated to a former holder of power (cf. C.-H. Perrot, op. ci., p.124 ff.). Rectangular Bia Bile are called Sesebia, round seats Pulüe. References: - Les Anyi-Ndenye et le pouvoir aux 18è et 19è siècles, Claude H. Perrot, 1982, chapter 3, p.124 "les supports matériels du pouvoir : les sièges" (p. 129, photos illustrating Agni "Bia Bile" seats coated with the blood of sacrificed animals).
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