Ex-German African art collection. Used by the female initiation society, this tubular carved figure is endowed with female attributes and a protruding umbilicus, scarifications comparable to those, traditional, of the members of the tribe, and has a patina color honey. The Tabwa ("to scarify" and "to write") are an ethnic group present in the southeast of the DRC. Simple farmers without centralized power, they federated around tribal chiefs after being influenced by the Luba. It is mainly during this period that their artistic current expressed itself mainly through statues but also masks. The Tabwa practiced the cult of ancestors and dedicated some of their statues called mkisi to them. Animist, their beliefs are anchored around the ngulu, spirits of nature present in plants and rocks. The Luba dominated the Tabwa in the region along Lake Tanganyika between Zaire and Zambia. "Tabwa" or "to be tied" probably refers to the system of slavery once practiced by Islamic traders. The Tabwa then regained their independence thanks to the wealth provided by the ivory trade. The Tabwa also worshipped the bampundu twins.
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