Exceptional Luba-Tabwa Dignitary's Staff, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Exceptional Luba-Tabwa Dignitary's Staff, Democratic Republic of the Congo kibango Wood with rich brown patina Height 63in (160cm) Provenance Reportedly Charles Ratton, Paris Private Collection, acquired in the early 1940s Schwart Family Collection, Tintigny, Belgium Pierre Dartevelle (1940-2022), Brussels, acquired from the above in 1966 Thence by descent Published Berjonneau, Gerald and Jean-Louis Sonnery, Rediscovered Masterpieces of African Art, Foundation Dapper, Art 135, Boulogne, 1987, fig. 284 Neyt, Francois, Luba - To the source of the Zaire, Musée Dapper, Paris, 1993, p. 119 Nooter Roberts, Mary and Allen F. Roberts, Memory - Luba Art and the Making of History, Prestel, New York, 1996, cat. no. 65 Exhibited Paris, France, Luba. Aux sources du Zaïre, Musée Dapper, 25 November 1993 - 17 April 1994 Memory - Luba Art and the Making of History: New York City, New York, The Museum of African Art, 2 February - 8 September 1996; Washington, D.C., The National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, 30 October 1996 - 26 January, 1997; Buffalo, New York, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, 26 July - 5 October 1977; Wellesley, Massachusetts, Davis Museum & Cultural Center, Wellesley College, 5 February - 7 June 1998 Footnotes: An Anthropomorphic Luba-Tabwa Dignitary's Staff: A rare emblem of prestige and authority from the Democratic Republic of Congo By François Neyt This exceptional dignitary's staff, which displays both Luba and Tabwa morphological traits, is a product of the Luba Kingdom, whose development in the 18th and 19th century warrants description here. Its stylistic characteristics indeed reveal Luba, Tabwa, and even Hemba influences, from a specific workshop and in a specific style. It will also be relevant to mention the role of feminine power among the kings and the chiefs who depended on it as well as that of the vidye spirits. These kibango staffs were of such great importance that few people had the right to see them, but no one was unaware of their existence. (Burton W.E.P., Luba Religion and Magic in Custom and Relief, Annales M.R.A.C., Sciences de l'homme n° 35, Tervuren, 1961, p.31; Neyt François, Luba. Aux sources du Zaïre, Musée Dapper, Paris, 1993, p.111-138) Luba History in the 18th and 19th Centuries The birth of the Luba Kingdom around the 16th century occurred in the middle of the Upemba Depression, among the Central Luba, more commonly known as the Luba Shankadi. The Luba Kasaï (Western Luba) inhabited the area west of them, and the Eastern Luba occupied the areas northern and eastern parts of the Upembo Depression. They extended their influence as far as Lake Moero by moving up the shores of the Luvua River and beyond the Lukuga River, which drains into Lake Tanganyika. Prince Buki, banished from the royal court by King Kumwimbe Ngombe (1810 to 1840), was sent to the north and the east of the kingdom. He took advantage of his situation to multiply the insignia of power in these places, and gave major local chiefs the right to own and use regalia, including staffs, caryatid stools, and ritual and ancestral effigies. The Tabwa, who inhabited the western shores of Lake Tanganyika, were among the groups that obtained these rights. The Message Inscribed on the Figurative Staff The staff is carved of medium density wood, and is 160 centimeters (63 inches) long. It has a light brown patina and is decorated at the center with a small wooden sphere that separates two long segments rendered as barber's pole spirals. This medial sphere is a sign of authority. There is no decoration at its upper extremity, but the upper third of the staff is a female figure rendered standing on an elongated and slightly concave rectangular base that has lozenge and triangle designs on all four of its sides and tapers as it extends downwards. These geometric motifs are among the feminine symbols that refer to the fertilization of the earth by the new moon. They also appear between the woman's breasts and the navel. The majestic vidye spirit is rendered in a standing position. The face is finely modeled, the vigilant eyes are bordered by conspicuous diamond shapes, and the arms curve back to the shoulders on the bulbous body. The legs are delicately bent, and the prominent feet extend out beyond the base. Three isometric zones are apparent on the figure – from the coiffure to the base of the neck, from the shoulders to the genitals, and from the buttocks to the bottom of the base. The coiffure is exceptional. The top of the forehead is extended by a high circular band clearly cut at an angle. This band is decorated with fine vertical rows of small diamond shapes and encircles the head. Superb bulging braids are intertwined at the top of the head into a large four-lobed bun, making the coiffure similar to one known among the Northern Hemba. Tradition has it that at the change of seasons the chief might keep the seeds under this coiffure. Among the Hemba, these seeds were kept in a square raffia bag. Scarification marks are present beneath the small breasts on the cylindrical trunk while others frame the umbilical area with lattice shapes, and yet other even more prominent and parallel ones envelop the lower abdomen up to the bottom of the kidneys, which are surmounted by two repeated lines. The sex is clearly sculpted. Feminine Power Associated with the Vidye Spirits In the Luba Kingdom, bowstands, spears and staffs were the most important emblems of the Luba kings and chiefs. Mary H. Nooter has noted how scarifications, royal secrets, interdictions, and the gestures of female hands on the breasts signify the power and protection of the secrets kept by the king and his entourage of advisors, by his most trusted mother, and by the widows and sisters. Bowstands that were no longer being used were rarely shown in public, although they exercised great power. The number of spears and staffs was limited and their distribution was managed observing specific and clearly defined ritual precautions. (Secrecy, African Art that conceals and reveals, The Museum for African Art, New York, Prestel, Munich, 1993, cat. 37, p. 105) The female figure, rendered standing, seated with her legs extended, or squatting or kneeling, is abundantly present in the Luba arts. She is there to transmit Luba life and traditions. Sculpting her entire body or her face was a profoundly spiritual act for it was through her representation that the beliefs and the history of a people were expressed. The sculptures are divided into three types: women and the sacred, women and politics, and women and everyday life. Indeed, she is the foundation and support for the energies and forces of the ancestral spirits that inhabit and roam the universe. In the realm of the sacred, the female body is represented by cup bearers and precious sculptures that are very rare when one considers Luba production in its entirety. (Neyt François, Luba, opus citatus, p.150 sv.) They illustrate the woman and the vidye spirits, the forces of the cosmos and the presence of the ancestors. She is present in a wide variety of forms, an expression of contained strength and interiority, with a refined coiffure, her eyes often half-closed yet open to another world, displaying scarifications and sensual lines, her hands on her breasts, ready to receive the spirits, to attract them and to invoke their presence. She is also a force, albeit in a secret way, in the kingdom's political life, as well as in that of the local chiefs and the villages. The objects that represent her in this function are the caryatid stools and the staffs. The latte For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing