Lot: 154

Standing male figure 'bateba phuwe

Burkina Faso, Lobi

Provenance Size Starting price / estimated price
Peter Loebarth, Hameln, Germany
Daniel Blau, Munich, Germany
Rolf Müller, Munich, Germany (1997)
H: 31.9 inch 4500 EUR / 9000 EUR

heavy wood, incrustations with kaolin, missing parts, base

According to the Lobi religious world view, various groups of spiritual beings live on earth alongside humans: spirits of the wilderness and the ‘thila’ (sing. ‘thil’) who live in the human habitat. On behalf of the Creator God, they are supposed to assist humans and help them overcome worries and problems. In particular, they regulate coexistence in the community with numerous commandments and prohibitions.

The ‘thila’ are invisible. Contact between them and people is mainly through diviners. They are consulted when a Lobi feels confronted with a threatening life situation and suspects supernatural forces behind it, e.g. witchcraft or the sanction of a ‘thil’ whose commandments he has violated. The fortune teller will tell his client what to do as the result of a complicated and lengthy procedure. He is often ordered to make or have made a human-like figure and to place it in front of the house or in the shrine room inside the house.

These figures are called ‘bateba’ in the Lobi language. For the Lobi, they are living beings who can see everything and communicate with each other and who can actively intervene in people's lives.

‘Bateba‘ have a wide variety of functions: 'bateba duntundara' (’bateba witches') protect people from witches and harmful sorcerers. ‘Bateba yadawora‘ (’sad bateba') mourn on behalf of their owners. Other ‘bateba’ fulfil temporary tasks: they help men to find a spouse; they help women to have children or they help to prevent or heal illnesses and much more.


Exhibited:

Munich, Galerie Daniel Blau: "Skupturen der Lobi", 7 February - 1 March 1997