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Lot No. 59

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A Luba-Hemba Stool 'Kipona'

Lot No. 59

A Luba-Hemba Stool 'Kipona'


A Luba-Hemba Stool 'Kipona' - Tribal Art

RdCongo, wood, 35 cm high. This is one of a group of at least 5 Kiponas/Kihonas from the same workshop. The Luba chiefs can trace their ancestry to a dynasty of sacred kings. These 'stools' are Luba royal seats, intended to replicate an original seat of office owned by the first kings of this divine lineage, creating a source of his legitimacy. These regal stools are never used for sitting but are sacred insignia, preserved within a king's palace as a metaphorical seat of kingship. The female caryatids give expression to the Luba conception of the female body as a spiritual receptacle that supports divine kingship. The aesthetic refinement of the female body through elaborate skin ornamentation and coiffure serves as a metaphor for the civilization and refinement that Luba rulers disseminate within society.

Provenance:
Unknown French collection;
Cornette de Saint Cyr, Paris, 3 July 2007, Lot 147;
Kellim Brown, Brussels. Published and

Exhibited:
"BRUNEAF, Brussels Non European Art Fair XXIV", Brussels, 2014: 29.

Cf:
For two seats from the same workshop; see these two images of resp. Phillipe Ratton and the Stewart J.Warkow Collection

Specialist: Joris Visser Joris Visser
+32-2-514 00 34

Joris.Visser@dorotheum.com

13.10.2022 - 16:28

Estimate:
EUR 18,000.- to EUR 25,000.-
Starting bid:
EUR 12,000.-

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A Luba-Hemba Stool 'Kipona'


RdCongo, wood, 35 cm high. This is one of a group of at least 5 Kiponas/Kihonas from the same workshop. The Luba chiefs can trace their ancestry to a dynasty of sacred kings. These 'stools' are Luba royal seats, intended to replicate an original seat of office owned by the first kings of this divine lineage, creating a source of his legitimacy. These regal stools are never used for sitting but are sacred insignia, preserved within a king's palace as a metaphorical seat of kingship. The female caryatids give expression to the Luba conception of the female body as a spiritual receptacle that supports divine kingship. The aesthetic refinement of the female body through elaborate skin ornamentation and coiffure serves as a metaphor for the civilization and refinement that Luba rulers disseminate within society.

Provenance:
Unknown French collection;
Cornette de Saint Cyr, Paris, 3 July 2007, Lot 147;
Kellim Brown, Brussels. Published and

Exhibited:
"BRUNEAF, Brussels Non European Art Fair XXIV", Brussels, 2014: 29.

Cf:
For two seats from the same workshop; see these two images of resp. Phillipe Ratton and the Stewart J.Warkow Collection

Specialist: Joris Visser Joris Visser
+32-2-514 00 34

Joris.Visser@dorotheum.com

Buyers hotline Mon.-Fri.: 10.00am - 5.00pm
kundendienst@dorotheum.at
+43 1 515 60 200
Auction: Tribal Art
Auction type: Online auction
Date: 13.10.2022 - 16:28
Location: Vienna | Palais Dorotheum
Exhibition: 06.10. - 13.10. 2022