An ancient cynocephalous statue, long known as a "gbekré monkey", holding in front of it a receptacle symbolically embodying the offerings that were to be dedicated to it. It wears a carved ornament (protective ligatures) on the left arm called mbla, testifying to the rites associated with the cup-bearer and meaning "protector against malevolent spirits". Also called ngbla according to Susan Vogel, it is linked to an important divinatory cult in the early 20th century against French invaders. He also wears around his neck a very old "fetish necklace" made of beads and an old axe blade made of excavated stone, often called "lightning stone" in a large part of West Africa, and ngblana ba in Baule country. Also of note is the old traditional filling of a gap in the knot of the wood at the back of the right calf with a wad of absorbent cotton, further testimony to the age of this piece. This beautiful cup-carrying monkey in the Leloup collection predates this one, coming from the important and immense collection of Roger Bédiat, one of the finest provenances for the arts of the Ivory Coast, and of which Hélène and her husband Henri Kamer acquired the most important part in Abidjan in the early 1960s and after his death in 1958. For mbla or ngbla, see pages 42,43 and 162, 163 in Singes Baule, Classens et Danis, 2016, Ed. Fonds Mercator. Baule, Ivory Coast Wood, irons, vegetable fibers, beads, stone, cracks and beautiful old oxidation, sacrificial material, beautiful sacrificial patina from use. Height: 47.5cm Provenance: Roger Bédiat Collection, Abidjan Roger Bédiat Collection, Abidjan Hélène Leloup Collection, Paris Transmitted by descent Publications: Gottschalk, L'art du Continent Noir; du Guimballa aux rives du Congo, 2005, pp.216-217 Claessens et Danis, Singes Baule, 2016, p.163, n°107