Figure of a female chief · D. R. Congo / Angola, Chokwe · ID: 3048684
sold
EUR 3,100
Provenance
John & Nicole Dintenfass, New York, USAZemanek-Münster, Würzburg, 23 September 2006, Lot 305
Werner Zintl, Worms, Germany
Size
H: 27 cm
H: 10.6 inch
Description
wood, black colour, pokerwork, missing part, rep., base
Female figures were often part of a male-female couple.
It has been suggested that this kind of paired statue represents a couple of unspecified ancestors or chiefs, the primordial ancestors of the creation of the world, or the mythical ancestors of the Chokwe, “Chibinda Ilunga” and “Lweji”. “Lweji” was the first Lunda female chief and the wife of the cultural hero “Chibinda Ilunga”.
This figure is female, but still wears a chin beard (probably as a sign of dignity and authority) and the typical chiefly headdress.
Comparing literature
Jordán, Manuel (ed.), Chokwe!, München, London, New York 1998, ill. 9
Publications
Zemanek-Münster, "Tribal Art", Würzburg, May 2007:9 (promotional book of best pieces sold)AHDRC: 0000171