Baule Figural Sword | Carved Female Hilt & Leather Sheath, Côte d’Ivoire

West Africa, Côte d'Ivoire, Baule. A short sword with a forged iron blade and a carved wooden hilt. The hilt is a female torso, nude, with an upright neck and small, high breasts. The carver used every surface. A crest of finely combed hair fans out behind the head like a halo. Spiraling ears frame a compact face with downcast eyes, and incised lozenge and cross-hatched bands circle the neck and the base of the grip. Delicate incisions cover the torso as well, representing the ceremonial scarification the Baule prized as a mark of beauty and civility. Patina and handling have darkened the wood to a deep brown, while the raised features show warmer tones. The long, slightly tapering blade fits into a dark leather sheath with ribbed collars, a braided suspension cord, and a dense tassel of leather fringe at the tip. The Baule live in central Côte d'Ivoire and belong to the Akan cultural world. They trace their origins to a migration from the Asante region of present-day Ghana in the 18th century. With that heritage came an Akan taste for court regalia: swords, staffs, flywhisks, and other emblems carried by chiefs and their attendants as signs of rank and authority. The Baule are best known for carving idealized human figures, and the figure on this hilt follows those conventions closely. It has a composed, introspective face, a long neck, an elaborately dressed coiffure, and skin covered with raised or incised marks. In Baule thought, scarification and a carefully arranged hairstyle marked a person as cultivated and fully social, the opposite of the untamed bush. A carver who covered a figure with these marks was showing beauty and moral refinement together. The same ideals shape the well-known blolo bla and blolo bian figures, the "spirit spouse" sculptures of the otherworld. Joining a figural hilt to a working iron blade connects two traditions: the blacksmith's craft and the sculptor's art of portraiture. The result is a weapon that also functions as a small sculpture, or a sculpture that happens to cut. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids. Item # 205853

Stima:€177.97

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