trophy bearer - Mboko - Luba - DR Congo

• Mboko-bearing dish carrier of the Luba/Baluba

• Democratic Republic of Congo

• Height: 44 cm

• Period: 1930s

• Weight: 2800 g

• Provenance: collection of the White Fathers (Révérends Pères Blancs) - Antwerp; collection of Heinrich Westerdijk - Netherlands (circa 1960)

• Condition: tension cracks under both knees of the “mboko,” minor losses.

— The Mboko figures or dish-bearing figures of the Luba and their various sub-groups and neighbors share the same concept: a kneeling, squatting, and sometimes even standing woman holding a bowl, a cup, or a vessel in front of her and rarely also on her head. Here, the bowl, lined with white clay, rests on her bare legs, extended in front of her and pressed against her turned feet. The body is that of a young woman of strong sturdiness. She has a disk-shaped hairstyle with a wide band across the forehead, leaving a bright, alert face with finely sculpted features visible. In particular, the protruding eyes are perfectly rendered, as are the nose and lips. She bears triangular scarifications on most of her torso and wears three blue Mpunduji beads around her neck. A fine natural dark brown patina directly on the very dense surface of the hard wood. A very lively woman with a lot of youthful charm.

— Designed to predict the future, this bowl-bearer – called mboko (name of the sacred vessel she holds) – perfectly illustrates how knowledge and divination are represented in Luba culture. Luba bowls commemorate the first mythical Luba diviner, Mijibu wa Kalenga, and were formerly reserved for royal diviners, who used them as oracles. More recently, rulers also commissioned such objects to serve as containers filled with sacred chalk, a powerful material associated with purity, renewal, and the spirit world. Thus the mboko are symbols of royal authority and legitimacy; their possession by these two types of patrons testifies to the historical link between divination and the origins of the Luba state.

— Mr. Heinrich Westerdijk was a great collector of African art as well as a passionate dealer in tribal arms about which he wrote one of the very first books on the subject, entitled “ijzerwerk van Centraal-Afrika” (see the last photograph).

— Sold with its manuscript and signed certificate of authenticity by Mr. Peter Westerdijk.

— Careful, insured delivery with tracking number.