African Arts Gallery

This female figure associated with the mythical female ancestor is said to intervene in human fertility and the fertility of the land. Her face forms a miniature replica of the powerful mukishi wa pwo nyi cijingo ca tangwa mask topped with the kambu ja tota. ("Chokwe and Their Bantu Neighbours" Rodrigues de Areia.) br> Orange brown satin patina. Cracks.
Peacefully settled in eastern Angola until the sixteenth century, the Chokwe were then subjected to the Lunda empire from which they inherited a new hierarchical system and the sacredness of power. Nevertheless, the Chokwe never fully adopted these new social and political contributions. Three centuries later, the Chokwe eventually took over the capital of the Lunda, which had been weakened by internal conflicts, thus contributing to the dismantling of the kingdom. The Chokwe did not have a centralized power but rather large chiefdoms. It was these chieftainships that attracted artists who wished to put their skills at the exclusive service of the court. The artists created so many varied pieces of such quality that the Lunda court employed only them.