Figure of the "bwami" society ·  D. R. Congo, Lega · ID: 3040814

Description

bone, brown patina, dark pigment, short legs and stump arms, neckless head with slanting eyes, completely covered with punched dot pattern, min. dam., slight traces of abrasion;
“iginga” (pl. “maginga”) figures are individually owned by the highest-ranking members of “bwami” society and are the most coveted of all initiation objects. The Lega consider “maginga” to have the strongest innate power, and they often use bits of the ivory scraped from these figures to mix in a drink intended for medicinal purpose.

The object Figure of the “bwami” society with the object ID 3040814 was last part of the auction 83rd Tribal Art Auction at May 28, 2016 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house and had the lot number 412.

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