Standing male figure "biteki" · D. R. Congo, Teke · ID: 3040497
Description
wood, partly encrusted brown patina, small cavity with remains of magical mass in the upper part of the body , min. dam., missing parts through insect caused damage, cracks, base;
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 object Standing male figure “biteki” with the object ID 3040497 was last part of the auction 83rd Tribal Art Auction at May 28, 2016 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house and had the lot number 480.
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.
Publications
Bomann-Museum (Hg.), Afrikanische Kunst, Sammlung Robert Lewitzki, Celle 2012, p. 24