Five protective figures "bateba" · Burkina Faso, Lobi · ID: 3034189
e) Fred Jahn, Munich, Germany
Wolfgang Nerlich, Munich, Germany
Description
wood, a) left hand up to the mouth, h: 19 cm, black encrusted patina in some areas, minor missing parts, metal plate; b) figure with cowrie snails, h: 16,4 cm, partly encrusted with clay, crack, metal plate; c) female figure with pierced right arm, h: 15,5 cm, metal plate; d) standing figure, h: 11,3 cm, slightly dam.; e) slender figure with pierced right arm, remains of black paint, h: 9,8 cm, wooden plate;
the Lobi distinguish four types of “bateba” protective figures: “bateba phuwe” (the so-called “ordinary bateba”), “bateba bambar” (“paralyzed bateba”), “bateba ti puo” (“dangerous persons”) and “bateba ti bala” (“the extraordinary persons”). Present figures belong to the type of “ordinary bateba”, because they show no special gesture or any physiological symptom. The first “bateba” is a so-called “bateba yadawora” - “sad bateba”. They express deep grief with different gestures and adopt the suffering of their owners.
The object Five protective figures “bateba” with the object ID 3034189 was part of the auction 72nd tribal art auction on March 9, 2013. The object with the lot number 85 achieved a sales price of EUR 750 with an asking price of EUR 600.
You can find more Figures and other popular object types on our related topic pages. You may also be interested in our page on African art.