Janiform protective figure "thil dokpa" · Burkina Faso, Lobi · ID: 3041162
sold
EUR 2,400
Provenance
Ader-Picard-Tajan, Drouot-Montaigne, Paris, 27 February 1989, lot 26Hans Schneckenburger, Munich, Germany
Gerhard de Vos, Dormagen, Germany
Hans Reinmöller, Ratingen, Germany (1997)
Size
H: 59 cm
H: 23.2 inch
Description
wood, shiny reddish brown patina, black paint, male/female, slightly dam., minor missing parts (hands, male genital), base;
“bateba” figures with janus head or body were called “thil dokpa” - “glued thil”. They belong to the so-called “extraordinary people” (“ti bala”), who show unusal physical characteristics. Such “bateba” are believed to have special power. The Lobi thought that an unusual outward appearance is equivalent to unusual talents and skills.
Comparing literature
Meyer, Piet, Kunst und Religion der Lobi, Zürich 1981, p. 96