African Arts Gallery

Luluwa pipe (N° 22520)

Luluwa-inspired prestige pipe.
African Luluwa art glorifies local chiefs, the female figure, fertility. The traditional scarifications are indicated thanks to the salient patterns of the face while the mouthpiece of the pipe refers to the pointed hairstyle named disungu. Cracks, scattered crusty deposits.
Height on base: 57 cm.
It is in the south of the Democratic Republic of Congo that the Lulua, or Béna Lulua, from West Africa settled. . Their social structure, based on caste, is similar to that of the Luba. They produced few masks, but mostly statuettes of ancestors representing the ideal warrior, mulalenga wa nkashaama, as well as the head of the Leopard society, the statuettes mbulenga linked to nature spirits and hunting fetishes. The rites linked to the cult named Riamba required the smoking of hemp.