Anthropomorphic statuette - Wood - Babeta - Lobi - Burkina Faso

Anthropomorphic statuette named Bateba. Lobi culture, Burkina Faso. First half of the 20th century. Wood. Height: 20 cm; Length: 4. 5 cm; Thickness: 5 cm. This particularly geometric statuette is standing with the arms along the body. The shoulders extend to the chest in two beaks. The navel is in light-relief, just like its genitals. Its oval face features slender almond-shaped eyes in hollow rectangles, its small ears are C-shaped, its nose is long and its mouth has a coffee bean shape. The spine is straight and hollowed out, its buttocks are short and rectangular in relief. Although the legs are not separated, the folds of the knees are well represented. The specificity of these Bateba statuettes is their association to Thil, the spirit of the bush. When an evil spirit would possess an individual, it had to be trapped, in order to free the person. A Bateba statuette, which would receive libations, was carved to attract the evil spirit.