SOLD / SOLD! Rare Fetish LUBA Kasaï statue Power Figure from Western Luba People MC1187

CONGO DRC

Standing male figure, hands around the navel area, an antelope horn is stuck on the top of the skull; the hairstyle in a long triple braid is impressive
The Nkishi are fetishes, equipped with a magical charge, the " bijimba ", inserted here in the horn

According to François Neyt, the art of the Western Luba is still relatively poorly known and although its systematic study remains to be done, we can note the influences of their neighbors, notably those of the Songye, the Lulua, and the Nsapo-Nsapo.

If these Kasai fetishes are rare, we can see a fairly similar statuette, with a horn and three braids which was sculpted in a workshop of the Luba Kasai (Neyt, page 164) As the author writes about it and it is a remark valid for this piece too: it is inspired by the Songye canons and is representative of a model crossing all of Shaba, from the Tabwa to the Songye via the Hemba and the Kusu

Their caryatid seats, their cup holders, chiefs' sticks, arrow holders, adzes and ancestral statues are very famous and among the most valued objects in African Art.