Male ancestor figure "bashumbu" ·  D. R. Congo, Basikasingo / eastern Bembe / Buyu · ID: 3050969

Description

wood, pigments, handwritten collection no. “A-149”, base

The Sikasingo (Basi Kasingo) live in the eastern Congo region near Lake Tanganyika. They are a small group of the dispersed Buyu people who inhabited the area prior to the arrival of the Bembe.

These figures often appear in ensembles comprising several named and genealogically related ancestral personages (cf. Biebuyck, 1981, p. 36, fig. 21).

Throughout the territory, that is identified with the eastern Bembe ethnic group, cult for individually identified ancestors (“bashumbu”) is practiced at different levels of the lineage structure and sometimes merged with various beliefs in nature spirits.

The figures were kept in small shrines under the authority and guardianship of a petty chief, village headmen or dominant lineage elder. In times of crisis, the senior in charge of the cult would sleep in the shrine, and with some helpers engage in invocations, praises and libations for his ancestors to obtain their benevolence and cooperation (according to Baeke, 1995, p. 372).

The object Male ancestor figure “bashumbu” with the object ID 3050969 was last part of the auction Auction 103 at November 16, 2024 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house. The object with the lot number 206 achieved a sales price of EUR 3,500.

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Comparing literature

Biebuyck, Daniel P., Statuary from the pre-Bembe hunters, Tervuren 1981, p. 36, ill. 21 Baeke, Viviane (ed.), Treasures from the Africa-Museum Tervuren, Tervuren 1995, p. 372