Portrait sculpture of an ancestor.

Region of the Bushoong between the courses of the rivers Kasai and Sankuru.

It represents the stylised image of a high-ranking woman in the hierarchy of the Kuba people. The wealthy hairstyle and refined body tattoos demonstrate the woman’s importance. The geometric designs decorating her figure are characteristic of the Kuba tradition.

The Kuba people represented the portraits of their kings, upon whom they bestowed a divine character. This is a sculpting tradition that was passed down from generation to generation. Sculpture was very rare because they did not worship their ancestors: we only know of a few examples of high-ranking people and dignitaries. Their productive craft turned instead to masks, dance helmets, royal tambourines, and other court objects like goblets, boxes, and pipes; all objects made with great skill in the carved surfaces, following the designs of the ancient tradition of raffia fabrics that spread through the Kasai region.

(*) “This is a red wood dust (bark of Pterocarpus) mixed with fat. It protects against termites and its red colour has a symbolic meaning. The indigenous people rub their skin with it, as well as greasing their dead and their ancestors’ sculptures with it.” Elsy Leuzinger 1972, page 240.