Luba Female Figurine

Luba Female Figurine

Katanga Region, Democratic Republic of Congo

The standing female figurine is carved from dark-patinated wood and characterized by a balanced combination of fullness and formal rigor. The disproportionately large head features a compact, swept-back hairstyle; almond-shaped eyes, a long nose, and slightly parted lips lend the face an introspective serenity. The hands rest on the rounded torso, whose diamond-shaped scars rhythmically punctuate the smooth surface. Light and red glass beads at the neck and hips add luminous accents against the deep brown wood. The wear and sheen of the patina suggest at least some intensive handling.

The Luba people developed a courtly art in the southeastern Congo Basin, particularly in present-day Katanga, in which female figures occupy a central position. Women appear as mothers, political advisors, priestesses, and mediums between the living and the dead. Beauty was not merely an aesthetic category, but an expression of moral and spiritual qualities. Hairstyles, scarification, and posture could visibly convey rank and cultural ideals.

The combination of the female body, beads, and scarification thus places the figure within a semantic field of fertility, memory, and spiritual transmission. However, a precise ritual function should not be assumed without a confirmed provenance.

Literature (selection):
Mary Nooter Roberts / Allen F. Roberts: Memory: Luba Art and the Making of History, New York/Munich 1996.
Mary Nooter Roberts / Allen F. Roberts: Luba, Milan 2007.
John Pemberton III: Crosscurrents: Art of the Southeastern Congo, 2012.

Inv. No. MAZ22969

Some of the information is generated by artificial intelligence and is based on published sources from the fields of ethnography, archaeology, and art history.

Height: 39 cm
Weight: 790 g