A Set of Six Gle Heads

This kind of clay head was made principally by the Dan and the We, two neighboring populations who live on either side of the border between Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire. Such heads were used by followers of the Gle cult, a religious movement that originated in the late 1920s and, with some variations, spread over a large area. The cult centered around Gle, a personified spirit who offered protection against witchcraft and was consulted during divination rituals. 

Divination is the practice of seeking hidden knowledge of bygone causes or future outcomes, in order to answer questions that people have. One often distinguishes “material divination” that uses oracular objects—like tarot cards or rubbing oracles—from “mental divination,” where individuals communicate directly with otherworldly forces—like the Pythia of Delphi or shamans worldwide. Gle divination is distinctive insofar as it relied on both an object and a medium. In order to consult the Gle spirit, a clay head was placed on a woman’s head. Once the medium was in a music-induced trance, Gle would answer questions through her. The oracular statements were frequently incomprehensible and had to be translated by an assistant.

Modeled from a mixture of clay and termite hill earth, the heads were not fired, which makes them brittle. They are more or less cylindrical in shape with a flat base, and often have feathers inserted in the top to form a coiffure. Eyes are mostly represented by cowrie shells, sometimes also by cartridge cases or a combination of both. Bushy whiskers or mustache, metal teeth, metal rings, and animal tusks or horns may be added. However, the most important ingredients remain invisible: secret components that empower the object, like parts of a sacred tree, blood from a sacrificial animal, even metal coins hidden inside.

Woman with Gle head, 1930s, copyright Museum aan de Stroom, Antwerp, Belgium

Mark’s note:

Two of these were collected in Liberia in 1957 by J.F.C. Fagalde

The large one on a pillar base was acquired from Amyas Naegele

Favorite quip, from Professor Richard Fardon of SOAS:  “A little something for the boudoir?”

Literature

. Paulme, Denise. 1961. “Sur un objet secret de Côte d’Ivoire,” Objets et Mondes vol. 1/1: 33-40.

. Plass, Margaret. 1964. “The Fetish That Knew Too Much,” Expedition Magazine [Penn Museum] vol. 7/1: 30-31.

. Siegmann, William, and Cynthia Schmidt. 1977. Rock of the Ancestors: namôa koni. Liberian Art and Material Culture from the Collections of the Africana Museum. Suakoko: Cuttington University College.

. Vandamme, Wilfried. 1989. “Three Gle Heads from the Ethnographic Collections of the State University of Ghent,” Gentse Bijdragen tot de Kunstgeschiedenis en Oudheidkunde vol. 28: 147-164.

. Wirz, Paul. 1934. “Ein neuer Fetischkult im Gebiet der Elfenbeinküste,” Ethnologischer Anzeiger vol. 3/6: 280-282, Pl. XX-XXI.