A beautiful, large, ancient buti statue with imwu-type headdress, characteristic beard and fine scarification marks emblematic of the mabina. Standing, the legs are bent, evoking the sacred dance of the nikibi men. The very large charge, here missing, once covered most of the body, from the legs to the neck, and has left its imprint on the surface of the object, revealing also the original sculpture with its abdominal cavity that housed the heart of the "magical" Bilongo charge. Téké, Democratic Republic of Congo Wood, nails, various materials including vegetable resin residue, erosion and age-related cracks, visible cracks (woodborers), very fine, thick sacrificial patina from use. Height: 68 cm Provenance : Galerie Stephanus Grusenmeyer, Brussels Collection Dr. Klaus-Jochen Krüger, Hamburg Collection Hilde and Dieter Scharf, Hamburg Publications and exhibitions: Arts d'Afrique Noire, 1992, n° 83, p. 54 Lehuard, Les Arts Bateke. Congo-Gabon-Zaire, 1996, no. 336 Heymer and Thompson, Sehen lernen. Eine Sammlung afrikanischer Figuren, 1999, pp. 116-117, n° 47 Rochard, Figuren Afrikas. Meisterwerke einer Privatsammlung, 2002, p. 116, no. 42, Ingelheim, Altes Rathaus, April 28 - July 7, 2002