African Arts Gallery

Fertility figure Salampasu (N° 17807)

This female figure in a semi-rest flexed position, hands placed on either side of the abdomen, embodies an ancestor. She is depicted wearing an ethnic mask. This statuette was dedicated to fertility and fertility rites. Desication cracks. Semi-saturated patina.
Shunting and farming, warrior people, the Salampasu form a tribe of the Lulua group and are settled between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola, east of the Kasai River. They are surrounded to the west and south of the Tschokwe and Lunda, and to the north and east of Kete and Lwalwa. A hierarchy of masks, simple wooden masks kasangu and copper-covered masks mukinka , was associated with the society of mungongo warriors (pl. bangongo). The wearing of these masks depended on a large contribution of livestock, beverages, or other material goods on the part of the aspirant who was introduced to esoteric knowledge on the part of other initiates. (Africa , Prestel)