Standing male figure "lomba" or "kambei" · Sierra Leone, Mende · ID: 3043642

Name: Standing male figure "lomba" or "kambei"
SKU: 3043642
Availability: Discontinued

not available anymore

Provenance

Reginald Groux, Paris, France (1998)

Size

H: 60 cm

H: 23.6 inch

Description

wood, black patina, color accents in red and green, elaborate carved, slightly dam., insect caused missing parts, rep. (breakage at the left foot), base.
Originally mostly female figures were used for ritual acts in the different secret societies in Mendeland. Pairs of figures of both sexes were assigned by the ethnologist W. A. Hart, the “njayei” society. The “njayei” spirits draw their powers from the water, “nja” is the Mende word for water.
The figural couples of male and female are known as “lomba” and “kambei”. They are said to represent both deceased members of the association and, in some sense, the associations ancestral spirits, possibly the original founders of the local chapter.

The object Standing male figure “lomba” or “kambei” with the object ID 3043642 was last part of the auction 88th Tribal Art Auction at March 10, 2018 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house and had the lot number 135.

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