Kneeling bowl bearer "mboko" · D. R. Congo, Luba · ID: 3035713
Eduard Hess, Oberwil, Switzerland
Description
light brown wood, slightly shiny blackish brown patina, marked by extreme overlong trunk and limbs and unusual proportions, lozenge scarification marks, rep. (breakages at both thighs and wrists), small missing parts, traces of abrasion;
one of the Shankadi substyles! A comparable work of the same artist is published by C. Petridis, 2008, ill. 36.
The functions of bowl bearers differs throughout the Luba region, but they always seem to have a close link to divination and healing. When a chief takes office the first wife hands him a sacred calabash with white earth (kaolin), a symbol of power. They are also considered to be the abode of the spirits who should help the diviner to heal the patient.
Comparing literature
Petridis, Constantine, Art and Power in the Central African Savanna, Brussels 2008, p. 56, ill. 36 (see also GVR Archives Registration: 0002870~02)