African Arts Gallery

Ex-collection African art Corsica.
Two figures embodying spirits encircle a cylindrical container mboko , which was usually filled with kaolin, the image of purity and the spiritual world. These vessels were used by different Luba societies, and groups of prophets, more generally by the mediums of the divination society Kilumbu, Bilumbu, or by the healers of the Buhabo society. The spirits of the ancestors were consulted individually or collectively through specialists. This type of cutting also played a role in the investiture of King Luba. Beautiful satin brown patina, cracks of desiccation.
The Lubas (Baluba in Tchiluba) are a people from Central Africa. Their cradle is Katanga, more precisely the region of the Lubu river, so 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 had the old king Kongolo, venerated since then in the form of a python, die. In the 16th century they created a state, organized as a decentralized chieftaincy, which extended from the Kasai River to Lake Tanganyika. The chiefdoms cover a small territory without real border that includes at most three villages. Litt. : "Luba" ed. 5Continents.