Figure féminine debout portant une coupe ·  Burkina Faso, Lobi · ID: 3042667

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