Big power figure "biteki na matompa" ·  D. R. Congo, Teke · ID: 3033824

Description

wood, greyish brown patina, red paint, hatched linear scarification marks on the cheeks, the consecrated substances “bilongo” are fixed to the abdomen, forehead and back of the head with the aid of a resinous material, traces of mass and sacrificial offerings (feathers) at the mouth, dam., cracks, missing parts through insect caused damage and weathering (both feet), water spots, on metal plate;
such protective and magical figures are used as a prophylaxis against sleeping sickness and other illnesses. In some examples the medicine package “bilongo” is missing. Such packages are often scraped out by the “nganga”, little by little, and sold as healing or protective dust. The “biteki” are figures supposed to act magically, opposed to the “buti”, the ancestor figures.

Comparing literature

Schädler, Karl-Ferdinand, Encyclopedia of African Art and Culture, München 2009, p. 575 f.