Lulua Command Staff, RDC - Lot 42

Lulua Command Staff, RDC Prestigious staff with cephalomorphic handle extended by a ringed neck section. Beautiful abraded patina, slight wear, desiccation cracks. 53 x 6 cm Sold with its base The various types of Luluwa, Lulua or Béna Lulua statues, featuring multiple scarifications, glorify local chiefs, maternity, fertility and the female figure. Prominent scarification marks can be seen on the perosnnage's forehead. Gray granular patina with localized erosions revealing light-colored wood. The Lulua people, or Béna Lulua, settled in the south of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from West Africa. Their caste-based social structure is similar to that of the Luba. They produced few masks, but mainly statues of ancestors representing the ideal warrior, mulalenga wa nkashaama, as well as the chief of the Leopard society and mbulenga statuettes linked to nature spirits. (Tribal art from Black Africa. JB Bacquart)