Your questions? My answers !
Would you like to know more about your African artifacts?
Give us a call, send us a picture and we will tell you all about it. We are happy to extend this service at no cost to you.
Tel: 305 322-3566 USA
Baule / Cote d’Ivoire
Mouse divination vessel.
Wood, brown patina
H 11 ½ inches X L 12 inches
Provenance: A. Steinman Collection
A container with two levels connected by a small hole, and covered with a lid.
A field mouse is kept in the lower level of the container.
The diviner places several special batons over the hole which connects the two levels of the vessel, and entices the mouse with some rice to enter the upper container via the hole.
The mouse, while feeding displaces the batons which are interpreted by the diviner.
Traveling diviners would carry their vessels with them by means of a strap, making these sculptures easily visible to everyone. This method of divination while extremely accurate, is less explicit than trance divination.
This vessel is very similar to a vessel at the Musee de l’Home, in Paris, which was collected by Hans Himmelberger in the 1930s.