Female ancestor figure · D. R. Congo, Luba · ID: 3053443
gave it as a present to a Belgian nun
the nun gave the figure to Joseph Clemens, Prince of Bavaria (1932)
German Private Collection
Neumeister, Munich, Germany, 10. November 2009, lot 389
Arno Henseler, Munich, Germany
Description
wood, pigments, base
A work by the same woodcarver/workshop, in Zwernemann, Aus Afrika, Hamburg 1985, p. 28, ill. 19
The female image predominates in Luba art. Women were important political actors historically, as emissaries and ambassadors, counselors and advisers. Women of the royal patriline were intermarried with outlying chiefs, thus extending the scope of Luba power into the surrounding areas. And women of the court had titles and functions critical to the exercise of power. In these roles, and in their abilities as spirit mediums, women were crucial to the balance of authority in the kingdom at home and in the Luba view of the cosmos at large.
Comparing literature
Zwernemann, Jürgen & Wulf Lohse, Aus Afrika, Ahnen, Geister, Götter, Hamburg 1985, p. 28, ill. 19