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Lot Essay
Power embodied: a Baule monkey figure from the Master of the Double-C Auricle
by Bruno Claessens
This monkey figure is the work of a virtuoso Baule artist who worked in a clearly recognizable style. This carver excelled in introducing unique elements that show his genius, even though he sculpted within a strict set of guidelines to which bowl-bearing figures had to correspond. One outstanding element that clearly manifested this artist’s individuality are the ears – shaped in a double C. This Master Carver has been so-named because of his handling of this particular morphological aspect. A second unique trait of his style is the presence of cylindrical projections on each buttock – most probably representing the baboon’s ischial callosities, or sitting pads. Other elements further define this artist’s hand: the rare presence of small nostrils, the prominent low-set cheek pouches, the hatched eyebrows protruding, the protuberant oval eyes and eyelids set deep in the eye sockets, the conspicuous teeth, a visible tongue, a curved lower jaw, thumbs curled to touch the index fingers, carved nails, a double row of rectangular keloids for a spine and a small penis. All of these features are present in another remarkable monkey figure in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. no. 1978.412.468) (fig. 1), whose original polychromy on the eyes and mouth is still in a pristine condition. The same rounded, hanging shoulders below a neckless head can be found on a third well-known monkey figure in a Belgian private collection1. Covered with a thick sacrificial crust, it can also be attributed to the same carver.
The Baule world was populated by numerous supernatural powers that could positively or negatively influence human life. Many of these forces required the creation of tangible objects so that they could be located and used in a cult to improve the living conditions of an individual or the whole community. Amuin, such an invisible force, could be materialized in a wooden simian-like figure. Such a monkey figure put the devotee in direct visual contact with something that would otherwise remain intangible. The explicit choice for a zoomorphic iconography placed this statue in the realm of the bush (blo), which the Baule associated with chaos, danger and the supernatural. A bowl-bearing figure like this would have led a hidden life within Baule society; few people were allowed in their sacred grove (‘bois sacré’) in the bush, and women and children were forbidden to see them.
These monkey figures were not realistic depictions of the powers they would come to host. Essential were the raised forearms, and the hands clasping a bowl or cupped to receive offerings – a functional reference to the frequent sacrifices needed to maintain the spirit’s benevolence and cooperation. Important also was the vivid zoomorphism of the figure’s head – in most cases referencing the baboon, a befitting association in the Baule mind as the animal was widely feared.
Essential to a Baule monkey is its container for offerings, generally a bowl clasped in the hands - in this example formed by its cupped hands. Yet, offerings were not limited to the bowl – the whole body is often covered with remnants of sacrifices. The amuin within the statue would protect its devotees from harm (failed harvests, fires, floods and epidemics), and grant their petitions, most frequently for good health and fertility (of both soil and women) only if it was provided with frequent sacrifices. The relationship between amuin and its adherents was reciprocal; the spirit’s benevolence depended on the worship and the offerings received from its followers. Although the primary role of an amuin was protective – at both the individual and the collective levels – frequent and appropriate veneration was essential for the force not to turn against its beneficiaries. A diviner mediated between people and amuin. He communicated to the petitioner the instructions and solutions dictated by the statue. A sacrifice accompanied such requests. One defining characteristic of an amuin was its need for blood offerings. Both during collective ceremonies and in imploring personal favors, domestic animals (such as chickens, sheep and cattle) were sacrificed and their blood was sprinkled abundantly on the statue to increase its potency. The nature of the sacrifice depended on the importance of the petition. Additionally, eggs were regularly deposited in the bowl clenched in the hands of the statue to please the amuin.
The zoomorphic head gives the statues a powerful and fearsome appearance. In contrast to the refinement and harmony of the anthropomorphic Baule figures, the counter-aesthetic elements – such as their ‘dirty’ surface, covered with a layer of sacrificial residue – were deliberate. The emphasis on the awe-inspiring was essential for the figure to convey the fear and respect necessary to perform the regulating functions of village life that were expected from the statue. Although foreign to this formal language and ritual context, the Western eye is still able to experience the intimidation conveyed by this iconography.
1de Grunne, B., "Masterhands-Afrikaanse beeldhouwers in de kijker/Mains des Maîtres-A la découverte des sculptures d'Afrique", Brussels: Espace, 2001: p. 61 & Gottschalk (B.), "L'art du Continent Noir. Du Guimballa aux rives du Congo", Düsseldorf: Verlag U. Gottschalk, 2005: p. 227 & Boyer (A.-M.), "Baule", Milan: 5 Continents, 2008: p. 152 & pl.35.
by Bruno Claessens
This monkey figure is the work of a virtuoso Baule artist who worked in a clearly recognizable style. This carver excelled in introducing unique elements that show his genius, even though he sculpted within a strict set of guidelines to which bowl-bearing figures had to correspond. One outstanding element that clearly manifested this artist’s individuality are the ears – shaped in a double C. This Master Carver has been so-named because of his handling of this particular morphological aspect. A second unique trait of his style is the presence of cylindrical projections on each buttock – most probably representing the baboon’s ischial callosities, or sitting pads. Other elements further define this artist’s hand: the rare presence of small nostrils, the prominent low-set cheek pouches, the hatched eyebrows protruding, the protuberant oval eyes and eyelids set deep in the eye sockets, the conspicuous teeth, a visible tongue, a curved lower jaw, thumbs curled to touch the index fingers, carved nails, a double row of rectangular keloids for a spine and a small penis. All of these features are present in another remarkable monkey figure in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. no. 1978.412.468) (fig. 1), whose original polychromy on the eyes and mouth is still in a pristine condition. The same rounded, hanging shoulders below a neckless head can be found on a third well-known monkey figure in a Belgian private collection1. Covered with a thick sacrificial crust, it can also be attributed to the same carver.
The Baule world was populated by numerous supernatural powers that could positively or negatively influence human life. Many of these forces required the creation of tangible objects so that they could be located and used in a cult to improve the living conditions of an individual or the whole community. Amuin, such an invisible force, could be materialized in a wooden simian-like figure. Such a monkey figure put the devotee in direct visual contact with something that would otherwise remain intangible. The explicit choice for a zoomorphic iconography placed this statue in the realm of the bush (blo), which the Baule associated with chaos, danger and the supernatural. A bowl-bearing figure like this would have led a hidden life within Baule society; few people were allowed in their sacred grove (‘bois sacré’) in the bush, and women and children were forbidden to see them.
These monkey figures were not realistic depictions of the powers they would come to host. Essential were the raised forearms, and the hands clasping a bowl or cupped to receive offerings – a functional reference to the frequent sacrifices needed to maintain the spirit’s benevolence and cooperation. Important also was the vivid zoomorphism of the figure’s head – in most cases referencing the baboon, a befitting association in the Baule mind as the animal was widely feared.
Essential to a Baule monkey is its container for offerings, generally a bowl clasped in the hands - in this example formed by its cupped hands. Yet, offerings were not limited to the bowl – the whole body is often covered with remnants of sacrifices. The amuin within the statue would protect its devotees from harm (failed harvests, fires, floods and epidemics), and grant their petitions, most frequently for good health and fertility (of both soil and women) only if it was provided with frequent sacrifices. The relationship between amuin and its adherents was reciprocal; the spirit’s benevolence depended on the worship and the offerings received from its followers. Although the primary role of an amuin was protective – at both the individual and the collective levels – frequent and appropriate veneration was essential for the force not to turn against its beneficiaries. A diviner mediated between people and amuin. He communicated to the petitioner the instructions and solutions dictated by the statue. A sacrifice accompanied such requests. One defining characteristic of an amuin was its need for blood offerings. Both during collective ceremonies and in imploring personal favors, domestic animals (such as chickens, sheep and cattle) were sacrificed and their blood was sprinkled abundantly on the statue to increase its potency. The nature of the sacrifice depended on the importance of the petition. Additionally, eggs were regularly deposited in the bowl clenched in the hands of the statue to please the amuin.
The zoomorphic head gives the statues a powerful and fearsome appearance. In contrast to the refinement and harmony of the anthropomorphic Baule figures, the counter-aesthetic elements – such as their ‘dirty’ surface, covered with a layer of sacrificial residue – were deliberate. The emphasis on the awe-inspiring was essential for the figure to convey the fear and respect necessary to perform the regulating functions of village life that were expected from the statue. Although foreign to this formal language and ritual context, the Western eye is still able to experience the intimidation conveyed by this iconography.
1de Grunne, B., "Masterhands-Afrikaanse beeldhouwers in de kijker/Mains des Maîtres-A la découverte des sculptures d'Afrique", Brussels: Espace, 2001: p. 61 & Gottschalk (B.), "L'art du Continent Noir. Du Guimballa aux rives du Congo", Düsseldorf: Verlag U. Gottschalk, 2005: p. 227 & Boyer (A.-M.), "Baule", Milan: 5 Continents, 2008: p. 152 & pl.35.