Low Bed with Three Heads

Origin: Lobi Tribe, Burkina Faso
Composition: wood (one piece), pigment stain

This piece, remarkably carved from a single piece of wood, is thought to represent a protective spirit. The artistic output of the Lobi tribe is almost completely focused on the creation of bateba figures, which serve to protect Lobi families in various ways. The Lobi believe that the protective power of a bateba is the strongest when they have the ability to see in more than one direction at once, and this piece is probably an extension of that belief. The beauty, rarity, and quality of the piece makes it highly desireable. It was acquired on a field-collecting trip to Burkina Faso in 2007.

The Lobi live in the south-west of Burkina Faso, and also in northern Ivory Coast and Ghana. They follow traditional, ancestor-based beliefs and their traditions are some of the best preserved in Africa. The live in distinctive fortress-like mud-brick compounds. The Lobi don’t use masks. Most of their woodcarvings are of human figures that are kept in ancestral shrines that are found in every Lobi home (Ref: "Lobi," Lonely Planet, pg 224).