Tribal Art

Luluwa chair (N° 18881)

The backrest and legs of this dignitary's chair take up the signs associated with the body scarification of the ethnic group. The face of the figure with the ringed neck on top of the seat also features salient motifs. According to Rik Ceyssens in "Congo Masks" (p.156 . ed. M.L.Félix) and as attested by the sketches of H.M. Lemme who accompanied Frobenius on his travels to the Congo, this model of scarification in loops was then widespread in different Luluwa subgroups in 1905. The Bakwa also had this type of tribal scarring. Comfortable seating. Glossy patina, shaded brown, orange reflections. Erosions, slight superficial cracks.
The different types of Luluwa, Lulua, or Bena Lulua statues, presenting multiple scarifications, glorify the local chiefs, maternity, fecundity and the female figure. It is in the south of the Democratic Republic of Congo that the Luluwa, Lulua, or Bena Lulua statues from West Africa have settled in the south. Their social structure, based on castes, is similar to that of the Luba. They produced few masks, but mostly statues of ancestors representing the ideal warrior, mulalenga wa nkashaama, as well as the head of the Leopard society and statuettes mbulenga linked to the spirits of nature. (Tribal Art of Black Africa. JB Bacquart)