superb maternity - Bakongo - DRC Congo (No reserve price)

Maternity Phemba - Kongo / Yombe - DR Congo (Zaire)

Representations of "maternity" from the Mayombe and the coastal region of the Kongo country are among the most captivating in African art due to their universal theme, their naturalism, and their formal perfection.

These statuettes were called Pfemba or Phemba.

They were used within the framework of a female fertility cult instituted by a midwife.

The various works often depict women breastfeeding.

According to Lehuard (page 121 of "La maternité dans l'Afrique noire" G. Massa éditions Sépia), children whose legs are stiff are dead, whereas the living would have legs bent at the knees.

The statuette would depict a female head of the clan presenting to her husband their first child, living or stillborn, or who died shortly after birth.

Marc Léo Félix, in his book Kongo (page 85), informs us that these statuettes would be in the likeness of the founder of the clan or a reigning woman. These objects being the property of the chief.

Other sources mention that these statues were used rubbed with a red vegetal coating acting as a mediating agent between the transitional states of birth and death.