Teke Fetish Male Figure (Buti) stabbingspears and tree-bark fibre bags (bilum

and tree-bark fibre bags (bilum / noken) were everyday necessities

and would have been lashed to a wooden shaft and thrust or thrown into the water

Discovery Publishing House

giving the piece its signature luster

Latin American Antiquity

Teke Fetish Male Figure (Buti) stabbingspears and tree-bark fibre bags (bilumTeke people, mid 20th century, Republic of the Congo, Central Africa Magnificent small sized Teke fetish male figure (buti), representing a revered ancestor and believed to embody the ancestors substance (ikwii). Carved in the classical Teke style, the figure features a large head, rectangular torso, and slightly bent legs with robust feet. The face is that of an elder, with almond shaped eyes, a wide flat nose, crescent shaped ears, an open mouth,