Luba art

Most of the Luba art in Western collections was originally produced in association with royal or chiefly courts and was meant to validate the power of leaders.

[1] In December 2010, prestigious auctioning house Sotheby's announced that a Luba sculpture made by the legendary Master of Buli was sold for 7,100,000,00 USD in Paris.

Almost all Luba art includes the female form either surmounting or supporting objects such as headrests, staffs, spears, axes or bowls.

This gesture also references the fact that in Luba culture, only women are deemed strong enough to guard the profound secrets of royalty, and it is within their breasts that they protect the royal prohibitions upon which sacred kingship depends.

[5] Luba explain that only women, who have the potential to become pregnant and produce new life, are strong enough to hold powerful spirits and the secret knowledge associated with them.

[9] Central to Luba artistry is the lukasa, a seemingly simple but extraordinarily sophisticated device that aids memory and the making of histories.

Lukasa memory boards are hourglass-shaped wooden tablets that are covered with multicolored beads, shells and bits of metal, or are incised or embossed with carved symbols.

[10] The colors and configurations of beads or ideograms serve to stimulate the recollection of important people, places, things, relationships and events as court historians narrate the origins of Luba authority.

When a Luba king died, his royal residence (or kitenta) became the site where his spirit was incarnated by a female medium called Mwadi.

Wooden or iron bow stands may have begun as practical objects, but they are also potent reminders of Mbidi Kiluwe, the culture hero who was a masterful hunter and blacksmith.

[5] Finally the metal shaft of bow stands convey the king's strength, and when planted in the ground, they testify to his origins and power.