Figure of a Luba Bow Stand (nsakakabemba)
RDC, around 1900, wood, 18 cm high. A fine female figure who represents the mothers who led the migration to the Luava region. The figure would have had three prongs to hold the bow, symbolizing the three-branched tree used by Luba hunters to display the skulls of their kills, both human and animal. More important than their literal function as a bow stand, these figures are signifiers of power and authority, highly sacred and never displayed in public. Instead, nsakakabemba are kept in houses guarded by female dignitaries known as Kyabuta. Such is the importance of the bow stand in Luba culture that they are central to prayer and sacrifice and subject to lengthy and elaborate funerals once they have fulfilled their purpose.
Provenance:
Pierre Dartevelle, Brussels;
Bart Suys, Brussels.
CF:
For another figure from the same workshop see “Luba Hemba - Werke unbekannter Meister”, Museum für Völkerkunde, Frankfurt am Main 1983, p. 74, 75 and 140.
Specialist: Joris Visser
Joris Visser
+32-2-514 00 34
Joris.Visser@dorotheum.com
13.10.2022 - 16:37
- Estimate:
-
EUR 5,000.- to EUR 7,000.-
- Starting bid:
-
EUR 4,000.-
Figure of a Luba Bow Stand (nsakakabemba)
RDC, around 1900, wood, 18 cm high. A fine female figure who represents the mothers who led the migration to the Luava region. The figure would have had three prongs to hold the bow, symbolizing the three-branched tree used by Luba hunters to display the skulls of their kills, both human and animal. More important than their literal function as a bow stand, these figures are signifiers of power and authority, highly sacred and never displayed in public. Instead, nsakakabemba are kept in houses guarded by female dignitaries known as Kyabuta. Such is the importance of the bow stand in Luba culture that they are central to prayer and sacrifice and subject to lengthy and elaborate funerals once they have fulfilled their purpose.
Provenance:
Pierre Dartevelle, Brussels;
Bart Suys, Brussels.
CF:
For another figure from the same workshop see “Luba Hemba - Werke unbekannter Meister”, Museum für Völkerkunde, Frankfurt am Main 1983, p. 74, 75 and 140.
Specialist: Joris Visser
Joris Visser
+32-2-514 00 34
Joris.Visser@dorotheum.com
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| Auction: | Tribal Art |
| Auction type: | Online auction |
| Date: | 13.10.2022 - 16:37 |
| Location: | Vienna | Palais Dorotheum |
| Exhibition: | 06.10. - 13.10. 2022 |