20th Century African Wooden Ram Carving

Description

A great wood sculpture of a ram's head made during the 20th century by the Baule people of Cote d'Ivoire. … more A great wood sculpture of a ram's head made during the 20th century by the Baule people of Cote d'Ivoire.

For the Baule, zoomorphic figures represent bush spirits. Certain sources refer to this type of figure as an agricultural spirit. In general, sculptures such as this appear in villages during various festivals, where they perform various typecast characters living in the village and zoomorphic behavior and qualities that may be compared to that of humans. The ram has many male attributes and symbolizes a male character: the strong and beautiful spiral horns signify strength and power. less