Post with anthropomorphic heads

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Description

wood, traces of weathering / insect damage in the lower area, base

The exact purpose of these posts, which were used by the Lengola and the neighbouring Metoko, is still not clear.

It is believed that such object were used in initiatory and funerary contexts. The juxtaposition of carved heads could metaphorically stand for the succession of generations of initiates and ancestors.

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Comparing literature

Bourgeois, Arthur & Scott Rodolitz, Remnants of Ritual, New York 2003, p. 53, ill. 111 Felix, Marc L., 100 Peoples of Zaire and their Sculpture, Brussels 1987, p. 77, fig. 11

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