Baule mouse oracle and a seer''s gong

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Lot: 540

Baule mouse oracle and a seer''s gong

Lot consisting of a "Gbéklé Sè" mouse oracle, and a "Laouré Waka" diviner''s gong. Baulé culture, Ivory Coast.

Oracle measures: 29 x 25 x 17 cm. Gong measurements: 19 cm high (bell, without base), 25.5 cm long (stick).

Among other methods, the Baulé use the "mouse oracle" to make divination. This method consists of housing a mouse inside a container with two separate chambers, connected by a small hole. The soothsayer encourages the little mouse to go up through said hole by depositing some grains of millet on an iron bowl which, in turn, also holds some articulated copper bars. While feeding, the rodent alters the position of the bars. This new composition of elements is interpreted by the fortune teller, in a close dialogue with his client.

To reveal the source of the evil that afflicts the patient, the divination process requires a previous complex purification ceremonial. This includes fasting and sexual abstinence. During the seance the diviner projects his consciousness into the spirit world and rings the bell until he reaches a trance state. In this beautiful example of an oracle we appreciate the carved figure of the fortune teller, in a state of "suspension" over what he is observing. He remains standing, silent, meditating. With a fixed look, it seeks knowledge, wisdom and reasoning of the phenomena. Beyond our senses, find the "ideal world", or also called the "true world", in opposition to the world of appearances that surrounds us. The faces that are repeated in the outline and on the lid of the container allude to the diviner''s clairvoyant ability to see "in all directions."

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Object

Mouse oracle and Baulé diviner's gong

Country

Ivory Coast

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