African Arts Gallery

Revealing the adze strokes, an African sculpture named mwanangana depicting a chief from the Moxico region, wearing the chipangula cheffale. The chiefs had a major function in the propitiation rites intended for hunting and the fertility of women. Applications of castor oil and coloring plant decoctions were generally applied to the work.
Glossy black surface. Cracks.

Peacefully settled in eastern Angola until the 16th century, the Chokwé were then subject to the Lunda empire from which they inherited a new hierarchical system and the sacredness of power. Three centuries later, they ended up seizing the capital of the Lunda weakened by internal conflicts, thus contributing to the dismantling of the kingdom. The Chokwé did not have centralized power but large chiefdoms. It was they who attracted artists wishing to put their know-how at the exclusive service of the court. The artists created so many varied pieces of such quality that the Lunda court employed only them.
Ref. : "Chokwe, Visions of Africa" B. Wastiau, ed. 5Continents.