Pair of Nkpasopi Figures

Origin: Attye Tribe, Ivory Coast
Composition: : wood, pigment stain

These finely sculpted stauettes with their rigid pose, bulbous limbs, and stylized coiffures are typical of the artistic style of the lagoons region in southeastern Ivory Coast, and could have been used in a variety of contexts. They may have been used by a diviner, for use in conveying messages to the spirit world, or they may have been displayed during traditional dances and masquerades to invoke the spirits of the ancestors.

However, their most likely purpose was to represent a couple's "otherworldly spouses," which are lovers from spirit world that manifest themselves through these statues, and through a series of dreams (usually of a sexual nature). Like the Baule, the Attye people believe that every person has an otherworldly spouse that is responsible for practical and spiritual problems that arise in the life of that individual. Once carved under the direction of the village diviner, the statues are kept in a person’s bedroom and offered food.

The lagoons region of Ivory Coast, though relatively small, contains a mosaic of peoples who have been established there since for centuries, and who speak fifteen different languages. Living in close proximity to each other, they have long used and been influenced by each other's art forms, and also by their northern neighbors, the Baule, Anyi, and Akan (Ref: Phillips, Africa: The Art of A Continent).