Head on gourd

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Description

pumpkin, wood, quartz crystal,

Objects like this, complete with calabash and added magical elements, are very rare. Rare is also the addition of quartz crystal. A comparable object published in Roberts & Maurer, 1985, p. 28, ill. 18 (AHDRC 0029772).

According to Biebuyck half figures in calabashes, called “kabwelulu”, were used by the “bugabo” society.

New members were required to make large monetary contributions and were subjected to a complex and physically grueling initiation. During initiations, novices would place in the gourd certain secret items that would accumulate over time until the sculpture acquired a power far greater than any of its parts.

“Kabwelulu” were used for healing and divination.

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Comparing literature

Roberts, Allen F. & Evan M. Maurer (ed.), Tabwa, Washington D.C. 1985, p. 28, Ill. 18 Vogel, Susan, For spirits and kings, African Art from the Paul and Ruth Tishman Collection, New York 1981, p. 223 f.

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