Small female figure "iginga" · D. R. Congo, Lega · ID: 3041860
Private Belgian Collection
Description
ivory, honey brown patina, pokerwork, both sides designed identical: block-like body with closed contour, heart-shaped face, decorated with tribe-typical circle ornaments with central drilling, min. dam., slight traces of abrasion, base;
“iginga” (pl. “maginga”) figures are individually owned by the highest-ranking members of “bwami” society and are the most coveted of all initiation objects. The Lega consider “maginga” to have the strongest innate power, and they often use bits of the ivory scraped from these figures to mix in a drink intended for medicinal purpose.
The object Small female figure “iginga” with the object ID 3041860 was last part of the auction 85th Tribal Art Auction at March 4, 2017 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house. The object with the lot number 385 achieved a sales price of EUR 3,000.
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Notices
This object is subject to CITES. Please note that it can only be sent within the European Union. At the present time export in third countries is prohibited, respectively, export licenses in third countries for objects containing or made of protected materials are only granted under stringent conditions.