Various studies in the 1990s have shown that the Master of Buli was certainly of Hemba origin and lived in Kateba, far north of Buli. The same studies showed that the artist was locally remembered with the honorary title Ngongo ya Chintu, ‘the great leopard, father of sculpted things’.

Since then, some authors no longer use Olbrecht’s term ‘Master of Buli’, instead preferring ‘Master of Kateba’.