Figure féminine debout portant une coupe

Description

wood, partly encrusted greyish brown patina, rising from long legs, with arms close to the body and flat breasts, prominent facial features with continuous browline, arrow-shaped nose and broad mouth, slightly dam., abrasion of paint, sacrificial traces, base.
A work of the carver Tyohepte Pale (1915-2001) from Gbakpoulona in Burkina Faso.
A large group of “bateba” figures form the “bateba duntundara”, which are supposed to protect people from witches and damaging magic. This includes the so-called “bateba phuwe” (= ordinary “bateba”), to which the present figure is assigned. The “bateba” become, in that moment, a living and active being, in that they are placed on a shrine and are subordinated to a “thil” (= superhuman being). It then turns into mixed beings, that combine human appearance and superhuman qualities of the “thil”.

Publications

AHDRC: 0147189