A superb Baga shrine object

a-Tshol/Nach/Elek, mounted on a cylindrical stool with alternating rows of diamond-shaped struts, the slender neck supporting the elongated horizontal head of avian form with slender protruding beak, pointed nose and rounded forehead with brass tacks inset for eyes and leading to an elaborate openwork headdress with a central crest; '114' in white pigment at the base; exceptionally fine, layered, blackened and resinous patina inset overall with brass tacks.

Acquired from D'Arcy Galleries, Maurice Bonnefoy, New York, March 5, 1965

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Milwaukee Public Museum, Selections from The William W. Brill Colllection of African Art, May 5 - August 31, 1969 (for additional venues see bibliography, Milwaukee 1969)
New York, The Center for African Art, Perspectives: Angles on African Art, September 18, 1987 - January 3, 1988 (for additional venues see bibliography, The Center for African Art 1987)
New York, Museum for African Art, Art of the Baga: A Drama of Cultural Reinvention, October 4, 1996 - January 5, 1997 (for additional venues see bibliography, Lamp 1996)

Van Geertruyen 1979: 35
The Center for African Art 1987: 105
Lamp 1996: 91, figure 63

The Brill Baga altar is distinguished by its overall thinness and refinement of carving together with a deeply layered patina; it is a superb example of this type. See also Vogel (1981: figure 26) for a related elek from the Tishman Collection; and Roy (1992: 25) for another from the Stanley Collection.

Paulme (in Vogel 1981: 58) describes the function of these altars based on her field work in 1954: 'In each family house where the eldest member of the lineage resides, a dark corner is reserved for the elekel shrine, which is reinvigorated periodically with sacrifcial blood. ...The shrine includes a flywhisk made from a cow's tail [and other various materials], which plays a role in purification ceremonies and which is indispensable in hunting down sorcerers. A basket protects the whole assemblage. Next to, or on top of, the basket is the elek sculpture embodying the ensemble that bears its name. The tutelary role of the elek explains the presence of holes in  the head: horns filled with magic powers and unguents, usually kept in the basket, were attached there. In the past, elekel shrines received offerings of the first fruits of the harvest. ...The elek was present at funerals of family heads, adult members of the group, neighbors, allies and all other important persons. To say that the elek represented the lineage on these occasions is insufficient; it was at once the protector of the group and its most visible sign. It incarnated in some sense the life of the lineage. ...[In its role as a protector and intermediary of spiritual forces] the sculpture, combining human and animal features, expresses the composite nature fo the elek, capable of pursuing sorcerers underwater, through the air, and into the depths of the forest.'

Lamp (1996: 91) notes that in all of the Baga areas - Sitemu, Mandori, Pukur, Bulunits -- the name 'medicine' – a-Tshol/Nach/Elek -- is given to shrine figures consisting of beaked heads on a base.