A Baule male figure, Ivory Coast, collected in the Bouaké region, village Diabo, placed on an oval base, knees slightly bent, ankles and wrists tied up, genitals hanging between the legs, the rib cage is showing as are the shoulder bones, a thick cylindric neck carries a large oval head with plunging jawline finishing up in a goatee, the features are calm, emphasized by the half closed eyes staring downwards, he hairdo is pulled backwards. The figure is covered with scarifications on his body, face, neck stomach - sign of beauty and status in Baule culture; some wear throughout the sculpture, some cracks at the base.Provenance: Belo Mohamed Garba. “To articulate historians, the most consistent features of Baule art is a kind of peaceful containment. Faces tend to have downcast eyes and figures most often hold their ams against the body. […] Among their abundant art forms, the Baule people continue to place the greatest value on masks and figure sculptures, which remain the only sculptural art still widely used in Baule villages. While there is a difference between the Baule view of their objects and that of Western connoisseurs, there are points of agreement. Aesthetic appreciation is one: Baule artist, and individual owners of objects, certainly sometimes enjoy the beauty of these objects and the skill it took coproduce them. […] Ornaments above the face are chosen for their beauty and have no iconographic significance” p.141 Lit: Baule: African Art, Western Eyes. Susan M.Vogel 1997.