Description: Ancient African Luba royal People water pipe Hand made carved wood Congo Trival piece of kneeling female on gourd , PIPE EAU ROYALE LUBA di CONGO ( Plz note , I'm not a professional appraiser nor a archeologists , I can't 100% pinpoint the exact age or were it was made . I aquire this Vintage piece at a state Auction from the south side of chicago , the owner was and old African Teacher . What your about to read below is Hours of research I made to figure out What i had in my hands. These pieces are very hard to find and really not many outhers to compare . Only few have have sold in high end websites with private collections . Based on my research it can be dated late 1890,s or early 1900's Make sure to look all questions if any ) DESCRIPTION : The Luba anthropomorphic water pipes are among the most inventive and refined sculptures of Luba Art. This type of object is extremely only found in museum and private collections. This is Luba female spiritual medium water pipe with a satin brown patina Tribal Art . It has the classic features in an ovoid face. Its Shankadi-type headdress, behind a wide headband that unveils a shaved forehead, evokes the hairstyles of Lub women at the beginning of the twentieth century. Her attitude, with her hands positioned on both sides of the chest holding the Reincarnation of a king , reminds us that the secrets of royalty (bizila) belong to women through their role as political and spiritual intermediary. The round spherical furnace surmounted by a kneeling female figure, the torso decorated with characteristic scarifications in high relief, the hands placed under the breasts holding the future king , the face with a haughty expression and the half-closed almond eyes and a Elegant stand form. DETAILS / CONDITION : Usually you find these with a large cracked or heavily damage , but not this one, . Like most of these pipes it needs a little help standing upright to stabilize it, its hand made , it was not made by a machine to make it a perfect round base lol. Looks like it has never been Used, and if you plan to used it, you wii need to poke a hole on the upper pipe. These are very rare and hard to find with only several that are still for sale. High end galleries are asking from $300-$700 for these collectible pieces, depending on the condition , patina and size . The figures approximate size is 17 inches tall o and 6.5 inches wide, so its not small by any means Tracking and Insurance is included. ------------- HISTORY ( It was very fun for me to learn about history , so enjoy : ) The king is woman !! In African Trival history, the Men are chiefs in the daytime, but women become chiefs at night. Women have long been central to Luba political practices in the Democratic Republic of the Congo , and they are depicted prominently in royal arts dating from the eighteenth to twentieth centuries .Luba possessed one of central Africa's most influential precolonial polities that continues to play a pivotal role in Katanga Province of Africa . They belive Kingship is the people, "and the king's role is to protect the people, to ensure human flourishing, and to serve the spirit." At the investiture of a ruler, the titleholder is reminded the king that he was not king for himself but rather for all his people, including those who came before him. "At the center of this is life, and women are the ones giving life. The foundation of kingship is the women," the professor adds. The iconography and motifs on Luba insignia and related articles of leadership are devised, owned, and deployed primar only by men, yet they allude to women's power both conceptually and literally . The visual record combined with Luba testimony demonstrates that while men ruled in overt terms, women constituted the covert side of sacred authority and played critical roles in alliance-building, decision-making and succession disputes. Women also figured centrally in attracting and securing the spiritual allegiance necessary for a state built on the strength of tutelary spirits called bavidye. As spirit mediums, certain women served as guardians of and conduits to the most sacred dwellings of Luba spirits. Most important, the memory of each deceased king was embodied by a woman. The perpetuation of the Luba royal line was attributed not just to conception through the king's mother, but to the reincarnation of the king's spirit in a woman who became the king herself Processes of exchange and communication between the new king and the spirit mediums of previous kings formed an important dimension of Luba royal practice . CULTURAL CONSTRUCTION OF THE BODY The female figure adorning this water pipe possesses the ultimate attributes of Luba beauty created through the elegance of her coiffure and the accumulation of scarification marks. The gesture of hands to breasts alludes to the secret pro hibitions of kingship that are women's responsibility to protect and uphold, and her inward gaze is indicative of her role as a spirit receptacle. means that he also incarnates the extremes of power, and so is a constant reminder that the privileges of leadership can lead to excess and must be contained and controlled, checked and balanced For example, the investiture process of a Luba king requires that he undergo ritual incest in the presence of ancestral relics so as to place him outside of ordinary prohibitions and other social limitations, and to demonstrate his supernatural powers Luba rulership begins with certain basic Luba practices. Embodiment and trans-embodiment suggest that Luba royal culture is intrinsically tied to complex understandings of personhood and spirit possession. When a child is born it acquires the name of an ancestor who may have visited the pregnant mother in a dream or vision. Names are not gendered in Luba culture, so a baby boy can be named after a grandmother, or a girl could invoke the spirit of a male ancestor. Likewise, Luba observe patrilineal descent, and yet when a king or chief died, it was not his son who became king but rather the son of his sister. The king is often referred to as the wife of a deity, and there is a certain element of women's power found in the personality of the king who embodies both male and female elements. Any thing in art that the king touches will always have a figure of a woman. When it comes to life, women have a special connection with the ancestor and with the source of life itself." Luba male descendent of The chief will put a female figure on the staff to prove that his kingdom comes from this woman. It is like a sign or a memory of the woman who brought royalty to us." "The power comes from women. Even if a man reigns on the throne, one recognizes nevertheless the dignity of the woman as a source of power. It is from her that power emanated.
Price: 300 USD
Location: Calumet City, Illinois
End Time: 2024-02-03T02:31:55.000Z
Shipping Cost: N/A USD
Product Images
Item Specifics
All returns accepted: ReturnsNotAccepted
Provenance: Ownership History Not Available
Luba Pipe: Luba pipe
Country/Region of Manufacture: Congo, The Democratic Republic of the
Handmade: Yes
Culture: African