Figure magique janiforme "kabeja"

R. D. Congo, Hemba

Provenance	Taille	Prix d’appel / Prix d'Estimation
Paolo Morigi, Magliaso-Lugano, Switzerland ("305") Walter Stanley Schwab, Murten, Switzerland ("WS 556") (ca.1978)	H: 22,5 cm	Cet objet n’est plus disponible.

wood, pigments, oily patina in some places, sacrificial traces, base

"Kabeja" figures are seen as visual icon of the primordial couple, the founders of the society ("abeja" = woman, "makua" = man).

The "kabeja makua" is the fundamental object of the Hemba cult, including the cult of ancestors. Whether administering justice or making an offering to the ancestor these Janus "kabeja" were always present. They are owned by the clan head known as the "fumu mwela".

Neyt, Francois, La Grande Statuaire Hemba du Zaire, Louvain-la-Neuve 1977, p. 483-484

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