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her child are another well-known type of power
figure. These may be carved in full length or
as torsos terminating in a pointed base. Many
examples of this broad category are found in
collections around the world in wide-ranging
styles (figs. 7 and 8). Dealing with fertility and
the protection of pregnant women, newborns,
and young children, the bwanga bwa Cibola
was specifically aimed at ensuring a successful
pregnancy and safe delivery for women who had
endured a succession of miscarriages or whose
children had died shortly after birth. The cause
of the woman’s misfortune was believed to be
her possession by a metaphysical force known
as Tshibola from which she had to be liberated
through a seclusion and initiation process
that entailed numerous prescriptions and prohibitions.
Similar practices have been observed
and studied among various other central and
southern African cultures and are typically understood
as so-called cults of affliction, referring
to therapeutic practices in response to spiritual
possession.
Figures known as bwanga bwa bwimpe or bulenga
constitute another popular type of Luluwa
sculpture. They are typically smaller-size female
images that hold a cup or bowl in one hand and
sometimes a pounder or a cane in the other (figs.
9 and 10). However, some large-scale images,
including examples of the male gender, pertain
to this category as well (figs. 11 and 12). The
name of this power figure and the related rituals
refers to beauty in its broad cultural meaning as
a combination of external, or physical, qualities
and internal, or ethical, traits. This moral beauty,
the unity of good and beautiful, as expressed
by the word bwimpe and its synonym bulenga,
was ultimately meant to offer the best possible
protection against sorcery and other evils. In
daily life, the aspired moral beauty always implied
cultural or human intervention, most notably
through the application on the skin of curvilinear
and geometric scarification designs, which
are faithfully mimicked on the bwimpe figures as
well as on the Cibola and other kinds of figurative
carvings that have protection at their core.
After a review of the various functional categories
represented by Luluwa figures in collections
around the world, the latter part of my
chapter 2 discusses some of the most important
FIGS. 11a and b (left):
Female figure, bwanga bwa
bwimpe.
Luluwa, Democratic
Republic of the Congo.
Wood, pigment. H: 29 cm.
Field acquired by Casimir Fontaine,
Belgium, 1928–45.
Ex Philippe Guimiot, Brussels,
Belgium; Nathalie Chaboche and
Guy Porré, Belgium and France;
Sotheby’s, Paris, 18 June 2014.
Sindika Dokolo Collection, Angola.
Photo © Sotheby’s/Art Digital
Studio.
Signaling high rank and privilege,
scarification, jewelry, and elaborate
coiffures ultimately underscore a
figure’s beauty from an indigenous
perspective that considers physical
perfection to be a sign of moral
integrity.
FIG. 12 (right):
Female figure, bwanga bwa
bwimpe.
Luluwa, Democratic
Republic of the Congo.
Wood, pigment. H: 51.4 cm.
Field acquired by Paul Timmermans,
Belgium, probably 1955–62.
Donald and Adele Hall Collection of
African Art, USA.
Photo courtesy of the Nelson-Atkins
Museum of Art, Kansas City;
© Franko Khoury.
This finely carved, large-scale,
and elaborately scarified figure is
strikingly similar to an example
in the Dayton Art Institute that
reportedly was also acquired in the
field by Paul Timmermans in the late
1950s or early 1960s.