Figural pendant "mikisi mihasi" ·  D. R. Congo, Luba · ID: 3050127

Description

animal tooth (Hippopotamus amphibius),

According to Allen Roberts and Mary Nooter Roberts Luba pendants are portraits, or at least likenesses, and are named and honored in memory of certain revered ancestors.

Sculpted from bone and horn as well as from ivory, these delicate diminutive figures were suspended from cords together with other objects, including amulets, beads, and horns. The cords were worn diagonally across the chest or were attached to the arm. The figures were also sometimes attached to the tops of scepters carried by chiefs.

Devotees anointed the figures with oil in homage to the ancestors. Such treatments, together with regular handling and contact with the human body, gave the figures a smooth, lustrous surface and a rich caramel color.

The object Figural pendant “mikisi mihasi” with the object ID 3050127 was part of the auction 101st Auction on November 11, 2023. The object with the lot number 314 achieved a sales price of EUR 6,000 with an asking price of EUR 1,500.

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Comparing literature

Mary Nooter Roberts & Allen F. Roberts, Memory, Luba Art and the Making of History, New York 1996, p. 108 f.