Figure, Tabwa or Bemba; D.R.C. Congo
Wood, brass hobnails, cowrie shells; H. 26"
Wooden figures of the Tabwa represent
ancestors, great healers, and occasionally personified
earth spirits and were kept by lineage elders. They
were used to inspire dreams, to heal, and to protect
both individuals and the village and could be used
in litigation proceedings or placed at the ironsmith's
forge or within a hunter's shrine. Elaborate scarification
patterns on such figures have been linked to Tabwa
cosmology. This undeniably old figure, though, remains
enigmatic. While displaying many classical attributes
of Tabwa sculpture, the form of this sculpture also
brings to mind the figurative images of the neighboring
Tumbwe and Bemba. The use of hobnails to depict
scarification is unusual and may be unique, but
it is certainly traditional as an examination of
the patination beneath them clearly indicates that
they were put into the image long ago. Indeed, the
same can be said of the cowrie shells inserted into
the eyes. The overall posture too departs to some
extent from the main corpus of Tabwa sculpture,
the arms being flexed differently than those of
the majority of known images. It is possible that
this image is a unique object of Tabwa or Tabwa-related
art created for some purpose that called for an
aberrant carving.
