Bird sculpture "lumbr"
Description
wood, thick encrusted greyish brown sacrificial patina, anthropomorphic body with head, wings and tail of a bird, slightly dam., cracks, missing parts through insect caused damage, on metal plate;
the geometrical forms, which are accentuated by the thick sacrificial patina, allow to attribute this figure to the style of the Lobi Dagara. A comparable bird sculpture was offered at Sotheby’s Paris, 15 June 2011, lot 55.
Aside of anthropomorphic “bateba” figures the Lobi carved various animal sculptures which were placed on shrines as well. Most of them depict birds with a great richness in species. They have the following purpose: when the owner of a “thil” was threatened with danger while he was away from home, e. g. working in the fields, visiting a market or simply travelling, the “thil” could send this bird after him - not the wooden one, but a living bird of the same species - who calls on him to visit a diviner as soon as possible. The threatening danger could be cleared up and he learned how to face it.