Kneeling Female Figure - Lobi - Burkina Faso -CALL

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The 250,000 Lobi are divided among Ghana, Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso. Each household leader or Cuor is sub- ordinate to a thila, an invisible pro- tective spirit who communicates through the intermediary of diviners. It is the thila who dictates taboos and who requires the creation of a new wooden figure for the village or household shrine. Lobi sculpture was only discovered in the 1950's. The Lobi do not use masks but create figures called bateba and heads sculpted on top of a post planted in the ground. These figures, are beings that are somewhere between spirits and people and may represent the dead or bush spirits. Heads surround the shrines of sacred huts and the bateba belongs to the thila and carries out their orders to defend the territory against evil and to protect their owners from harm.

This superb female figure was from a Lobi village shrine. She is in a rare kneeling pose and has an encrusted patina from repeated offerings of various substances. She measures 25.5"H x 9"W x 10"D

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