About the Work

This superb lusingiti figure was sculpted by a very talented artist from the Hemba tribe in eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo in the 19th century to embody a specific deceased person. His name, now forgotten, was once invoked along with those of his peers with whom he formed a lineage of ancestors from a same clan. The deceased that these generally benevolent figures incarnate were expected to pass on their powers to their descendants, to keep game abundant, people healthy, and to ensure the fertility of the women as well as that of the fields.

Provenance

Pierre Dartevelle, Bruxelles, circa 1972
Jean-Pierre Jernander, Bruxelles
Hélène & Philippe Leloup, Paris
Jeffrey B. Soref, New York
Collection B. de Grunne

Literature

François Neyt, "La Grande Statuaire Hemba du Zaire", Louvain-La-Neuve, Institut supérieur d’Archéologie et d’Histoire de l’Art, 1977, pp. 104-106

Bernard de Grunne, "Buli - Hemba", Tefaf 2025, cat. 41