Standing female figure "biteki" · D. R. Congo, Yaka · ID: 3035256
Description
wood, lusterless brown patina, camwood powder “khula”, massive conical head crest, plug-like projecting ears, the nose with broad alea situated at the tip of the chin, the stylized mouth at the neck, slightly dam., crack (backside), on plate;
figures which are used as receptacles or supports for magical preparations are called “biteki”. When they are charged with magical ingredients, the image becomes a particular type of “nkisi”, the medicine-poison that “make ill” - “kukwata” or “make well” - “kubuka” by an invisible influence. The particular form of a statuette does not generally permit identification of its function, the kind of loading alone determines its purpose. Without these applied preparations which permeate the surface, or are insert into a ventral cavity, or are attached to or hang from the image, they are without meaning to the Yaka and Suku.
The Yaka have their homeland, together with their neighbours, the Suku, in an almost rectangular area in the southwest of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Yaka and Suku call upon a common origin and also share common institutions in respect of chieftainship, prophesying, treatment of illness, and the initiation of young men - all being reflected in the artistic production of the two groups.
Comparing literature
Bourgeois, Arthur P., Art of the Yaka and Suku, Paris 1984, p. 107 Schädler, Karl-Ferdinand, Encyclopedia of African Art and Culture, Munich 2009, p. 564