Maternité "phemba" · D. R. Congo, Yombe · ID: 3042421
Emmanuel Ameloot, Brussels, Belgium
Rob Vervoort, Brussels, Belgium
Pierre Dartevelle, Brussels, Belgium
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.
The object Maternité “phemba” with the object ID 3042421 was last part of the auction 87th Tribal Art Auction at November 11, 2017 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house and had the lot number 485.
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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