African Arts Gallery

Belgian African art collection.
Anthropomorphic spoon-emblems are recurrent in tribal art. The handle of the spatula is sculpted with a classic cephalomorph pattern, featuring a traditionally shaven head effigy, a headband limiting the sophisticated headdress. the facial features, harmonious, are carefully modeled. Although ritual, the spoon also quickly became an outward sign of wealth.
Height on base: 56 cm.
Cracks and abrasions.
The Luba (Baluba in Chiluba) are a people of Central Africa. Their cradle is Katanga, more precisely the region of the Lubu river, thus 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 in the form of a python. In the 16th century they created a state, organized as a decentralized chiefdom, which stretched from the Kasai River to Lake Tanganyika. The chiefdoms cover a small territory without any real border which includes at most three villages.