A SUPERB BAULE FIGURE Wood - 45 cm Ivory Coast Provenance Sotheby's Paris, 4 December 2008, Lot 92 This figure presents the common features of a group of baule artefacts usually known as the Sakassou workshop or the N’Zipri circle: Elongated body with a round belly, heart- shaped face with large round engraved eyes, large hands resting on the stomach, "The idiosyncratic treatment of the lower leg is an easily recognized trait: the ankle is usually behind the center of gravity, well behind the knee, and the ankles are small, pulled close together, giving the figure tension and a sort of lift off the high, tight, deeply ribbed base." (Vogel, 1999) In Fischer and Homberger (2014), Bernard de Grunne extracts from this group an artist identified as the Essankro master, a village where Susan Vogel photographed an old figure carved by this artist.. Among the characteristics that distinguish the master from the group, the pointed bear and the absence of more elaborated coiffure and scarifications are shared with the figure presented here.