African Arts Gallery

The Luba are renowned for their statuary and in particular their neck-bearings and stools made up of a cariatidic figure. They also carved containers of different kinds. The chef's ritual objects, charms and other fetishes, were stored in this type of large cephalomorphic container with a lid. Fully hollowed out, this sculpture consists of a spherical volume depicting a head whose headdress forms the neck. A rope holds the lid on the side handles. Medium brown patina very slightly abraded. Height on a base: 54 cm.

The Luba (Baluba in Tchiluba) are a people of Central Africa. Their cradle is the Katanga, specifically the region of the Lubu River, hence the name (Baluba, which means the Lubas). They were born from a secession of the Songhoy ethnic group, under the leadership of Ilunga Kalala who killed the old king Kongolo, who has since been revered as a python. In the 16th century they created a state, organized in a decentralized chiefdom, which stretched from the Kasai River to Lake Tanganyika. The chiefdoms cover a small territory without a real border that includes no more than three villages.
Source: Luba F. Neyt