Maternité "phemba"

---

Description

wood, light reddish brown patina, dark brown paint, kaolin, eyes inset with mirror glass, filed incisors, rich scarification marks, strikingly fine carved details (plaited bands, lacing of the loincloth), slightly dam. (base), cracks, rep. (a piece of wood seems to be reinserted across left face half and neck), base.
Commemorative figure of a highly regarded woman with a dead child, representing the mythical mother, controller of fecundity. This commemorative statue would have been used to honour the maternal spirit and the prosperity she brings in both funerary and fertility cults.

---

Comparing literature

Peter de Smet, A. G. M., Herbs, health, healers, Berg en Dal 1999, p. 17 Lehuard, Raoul, Les phemba du Mayombe, Arnouville 1977, p. 77, ill. 26

---