Luba Standing Female Figure
Luba Standing Female Figure
Luba Standing Female Figure
Luba Standing Female Figure
Luba Standing Female Figure
Luba Standing Female Figure
Luba Standing Female Figure
Luba Standing Female Figure
Luba Standing Female Figure
Luba Standing Female Figure
Luba Standing Female Figure
Luba Standing Female Figure
Luba Standing Female Figure
Luba Standing Female Figure
Luba Standing Female Figure
Luba Standing Female Figure Luba Standing Female Figure Luba Standing Female Figure Luba Standing Female Figure Luba Standing Female Figure Luba Standing Female Figure Luba Standing Female Figure

Luba Standing Female Figure

16857

$4,500
/
Shipping calculated at checkout.
  • Free insured US shipping on most pieces
  • Guaranteed authentic, with signed certificate of authenticity
  • 14-day returns

This site is protected by hCaptcha and the hCaptcha Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

 Democratic Republic of the Congo, late 19th to early 20th century AD

 Carved from a rich honey-brown hardwood with a lustrous hand-rubbed patina, depicting a nude woman standing with her hands resting on her abdomen, torso leaning gently forward beneath a high, terraced coiffure with radiating dark-stained lobes framing the face. The oval face is naturalistically modeled with fleshy, slightly parted lips, a straight nose, and almond eyes beneath a smooth brow, while the torso and back are worked with the fine punctate and linear scarification (ntapo) that Luba artists used to mark feminine beauty, fertility, and the body's role as guardian of royal memory patterns clustering at the sternum, radiating from the navel, and descending in a chevron band across the lower back above the buttocks. The carving retains excellent surface integrity throughout, with only light age-consistent handling wear and a warm oxidized patina pooling in the recesses of the coiffure and joints; the figure is presented on a later custom wood mount.

Size:13 in (33 cm) in height; 15.5 in (39.4 cm) on its mount)

Provenance: from the collection of Hans Petereit, Germany. 

Luba carvers reserved this idealized standing female type for prestige and memory objects tied to sacred kingship, and closely related treatments of the elongated torso, four-lobed coiffure, and abdominal scarification can be seen in the Cleveland Museum of Art's Female Bowl-Bearing Figure (2010.454) and in the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco's Luba figure, both of which use the same scarified belly and elaborate hairstyle to signal rank and the body's power to hold royal spirit

 

Every object is guaranteed authentic and as described, and has been legally acquired and imported in accordance with U.S. and applicable foreign regulations on the movement and sale of antiquities. A signed certificate of authenticity with a description and photograph accompanies this object. Any restoration is described on the invoice.

Free insured shipping within the United States on most pieces; oversized works are quoted at checkout. We pack and ship ourselves, usually within two business days. International shipping by USPS or DHL is calculated at checkout; if your country is not listed, write to us. Customs forms state the full value; international buyers are responsible for duties and taxes.

Any object may be returned within 14 days of receipt for a refund or credit. Contact us first. See Buying from Us.

You may also like

Recently viewed

Back to Central Africa