Figure (baàthíl) (c. 1900): Art, History and Details

Figure (baàthíl) (c. 1900) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This headpost (baàthíl) was likely a temporary sanctuary for khélé, a harmful spirit released after killing a person or dangerous animal. Around 1900, members of the Milkuùr religious association used baàthíla to counteract khélé. While the head resembles that of a teenage girl with pierced upper lip and earlobes, the roughly hewn, pole-like bottom suggests otherwise. Buried in an altar, devotees ritually applied materials that darkened the exposed head. When the owner died, the khélé left the sculpture; no longer sacred, it was buried. Milkuùr’s strict rules ensure these objects are made from the appropriate wood and that artists’ names remain secret.

Object facts

• Title: Figure (baàthíl)
• Date: c. 1900
• Culture: Burkina Faso, Ghana, or Côte d’Ivoire, Lobi–style artist
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: Wood and organic materials
• Dimensions: Overall: 63.6 cm (25 1/16 in.)
• Collection: African Art
• Department: African Art
• Accession number: 1967.152

A detail from the museum

Historically, figures like this baàthíl were associated with harmful spirits. Less common nowadays, they are used for different reasons, like to relieve suffering from malnutrition.

Collection credit

Gift in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph M. Coe from various donors

Further reading listed by the museum

• “Year in Review.” Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art vol. 54, no. 10 (December 1967): 302-347.
• Meauzé, Pierre. African Art: Sculpture [1st ed.] ed. Cleveland: World Pub. Co., 1968

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.