Baule Ivory Coast - Lot 93

Lot 93
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Estimation :
30000 - 50000 EUR
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Result : 60 000EUR
Baule Ivory Coast - Lot 93
Baule Ivory Coast "Male representation ""Blolo bian"" of a protector husband of a parallel invisible world. Discovery of a major work of Baule sculpture One of the greatest Baule sculptors of the 19th century, although anonymous, was revealed in the exhibition "The Masters of Ivory Coast Sculpture" co-produced by the Rietberg Museum in Zurich and the Kunst Museum in Bonn. It was presented at the Musée du Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac in 2015. According to Bernard De Grunne's research, only four statues by this master, called "Himmelherber's master", were known to date, named after the German ethnologist and merchant who acquired a famous example in a seated position in 1933 during a trip to the Ivory Coast, which is currently in a private collection. The second example, in the same position, is in the collections of the Dapper Museum and was acquired from the Duperrier Gallery in 1964. In 1896, Charles Pobéguin, a colonial administrator stationed in Toumodi, took a photo in front of the sanctuary in the village of Abli Alioukro, which shows an amouin monkey next to the female statue now in the collections of the Tervuren Museum. It seems that it was during a visit by Delafosse to his colleague Pobéguin in August 1896 that Maurice Delafosse bought this statue (Photos from the Pobéguin collection at the Germaine Tillon municipal library in Saint Maur des Fossés). The copy of extraordinary quality that we are presenting for sale comes from an old French collection and would have been acquired by the parents of the current owner from an antique dealer in Le Mans. According to this antique dealer the object was bought from the Robert Duperrier gallery in 1970. Representing a man standing with his hands on his belly, it is very similar in style to the statue purchased around 1950 by Paul Chardourne and in the collection of the Curtis Galleries in Minneapolis. The style of this artist is easily recognizable: the half-closed eyes, the slight elongation of the face, a delicately protruding mouth, a slightly asymmetrical goatee, the short legs with nervous movement are characteristic. The size of 33.5cm of our copy is close to that of the Delafosse copy (34.4cm). But the true signature of the master is revealed in the scarifications forming an arrow pattern on the sides of the neck and an inverted U on the temples, scarifications that are identical on the four known examples. The lacquered patina is partially covered on the base with traces of granular material due to libations, the underside of the base is slightly concave. A long braid extends from the back of the headdress to the height of the shoulders. A small break has amputated the back of the goatee. This sculpture is, for me, one of the most accomplished and refined made by "the master of Toumodi"" Collection D. Jolly h:33,5cm
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