A female Baule Justice statue, Ivory Coast, M'bahiakro region, on a circular platform, hands behins her back, serene expressoin and several scarifications on her torso and neck. Dark wood; glossy patina. This carved wooden figure represents a female justice statue within the sculptural repertoire of the Baule (Baoulé) of central Côte d’Ivoire. In Baule material culture, statues of this type are often associated with social regulation, judicial or moral authority, and community mediation rather than funerary or purely commemorative functions. Found in the M’bahiakro region, a historically significant Baule heartland between the Bandama and N’Zi river systems, such figures illustrate how sculpture articulates communal values and structured conflict resolution. In Baule cosmology, authority and moral balance are not centralized in a permanent political ruler but are distributed through social institutions, ritual specialists, and embodied representations. Female figures invoked as agents of justice often embody principles of balance, fairness, and moral rectitude, reflecting broader Akan and Baule conceptions of gendered competencies in social governance. The choice of a female form signals not merely gender but moral authority, empathetic discernment, and communal mediation—attributes culturally coded as both complementary and indispensable within the social order. Stylistically, the statue adheres to Baule aesthetic conventions: refined proportions, calm frontal orientation, and controlled modeling of facial features. The high forehead and downcast eyes emphasize composure and inner reflection, visual analogues for judiciousness and deliberation. Surface pigmentation and any residual accretions testify to ritual activation; such statues were not inert objects but were engaged through libation, offerings, and embodied practice in contexts addressing disputes, oaths, and communal sanction. From an academic and museum perspective, a female Baule justice statue from M’bahiakro encapsulates the integration of form, function, and social principle: it is a deliberately crafted object through which aesthetic refinement and ethical authority converge, mediating between individuals and community norms within an ongoing performative tradition. CAB32209