Diviner's Belt

Description

This belt may have belonged to a diviner whose skills derived from a close relationship with a wilderness spirit. Special training allows diviners to work in concert with such spirits to reveal the sources of human illness and trouble. Wilderness spirits often ask the people they possess to have unique objects like this elaborate belt, or weapons [see 1999.380], made for them, to be displayed during a diviner’s public trance performances.

Provenance

Reginald Groux, Galerie Noir d’Ivoire, Paris, or Robert Duperrier (died 1996), Paris; sold to Damon Brandt, New York, N.Y., between 1987 and 1992; sold to Douglas Dawson Gallery, Chicago, Ill., 2000; sold to unnamed owner, Ariz., 2000; consigned to Douglas Dawson Gallery, Chicago, Ill., 2007; sold to E. Carl Douglas [as promised gift to the Art Institute], 2010; given to the Art Institute, 2011.

Diviner's Belt

Baule

Early/mid–20th century

Accession Number

207325

Medium

Leather, fur, gourd, shell, and wood

Dimensions

24.2 × 90.2 × 12.7 cm (9 1/2 × 35 1/2 × 5 in.)

Classification

leather

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Gift of E. Carl Douglas and Family