Door

Unknown artist

19th–20th century

Wood, metal, and fiber

Dallas Museum of Art

Baule sculptors carved doors that may have been seen by passersby or that may have been seen by family members only. Whether entrances to houses or to interior rooms, the doors were decorated with secular imagery. The motif of a big fish devouring a smaller fish-a commentary on protecting rather than preying on one's own-adorned a number of doors and may have been carved by the same sculptor or atelier.(9) The Dallas door displays this motif. The big fish, which dominates the composition, is enlivened by the varied texture of its skin and scales and the placement of the smaller fish to one side of its head, as if it were being shake