Pair of protective figures "bateba phuwe" ·  Burkina Faso, Lobi · ID: 3035764

Description

wood, stained thick encrusted patina, arms close to the body, sacrificial traces (feathers, traces of liquids), missing parts (feet of the male figure/both lower legs of the female), rep. at the same place, cracks, small traces of insect caused damage backside, metal bases;
a work of the “carver of the tranquil faces”.
The Lobi differentiate between 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 don’t show any special gesture or any physiological symptom. “Bateba phuwe” figures help people in many ways. They protect them from witches and witch doctors, they mourn on behalf of the occupants of the house so these do not need to mourn themselves, and they fulfill various urgent tasks, like the search for a spouse, preventing sterility or healing illnesses.

The object Pair of protective figures “bateba phuwe” with the object ID 3035764 was last part of the auction 75th tribal art auction at November 30, 2013 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house. The object with the lot number 159 achieved a sales price of EUR 1,400.

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Comparing literature

Herkenhoff, Katsouros, Anonyme Schnitzer der Lobi, Hannover 2006, p. 49 ff.