A Superb Lwena Staff
Indigenous name: Mbweci or Muquixi
Standing on top of the cylindrical shaft, the female figure with hands resting on the abdomen and wearing typical coiffure; 'FE8633' in white pigment at the bottom of the staff; exceptionally fine lustrous gold brown patina.
Roy (1997: 352, text to fig. 80) notes: "This is one of the most beautifully carved staffs from any of the Chokwe and related peoples in any collection. [...] The figure represents neither a female relative nor an ancestor, but a mahamba, or protective spirit responsible for the spiritual and physical well-being of the subject of the chief or king who owned the staff." See Bastin (1994: 145, fig. 168) for a closely related staff from the Museu Nacional de Etnologia, Lisbon (accession no. 'AO-332').
Provenance:
- Christie's, London, UK
- Marc Leo Felix, Brussels, Belgium
- Fred Jahn, Munich, Germany
- Walter and Molly Bareiss, Munich / New York, Germany / USA
- Sotheby's New York, USA
- Leslie Sacks collection, New York, USA
- Native, Brussels, Belgium
Published:
- Christie's, South Kensington, Tribal Art, 28 June 1988, Lot 109
- Roy, Christopher D., Kilengi: African Art from the Bareiss family Collection, Seattle, 1997 pp.145 and 352, g.80
- Kilengi, Afrikanische Kunst aus der Sammlung Bareiss, Hannover 1997, p.149 and 356, g. 80.
- Sotheby's New York, African, Oceanic and Pre-Columbian Art, 16 May 2008, lot 163
- African Art, from the Leslie Sacks Collection, Refined Eye Passionate Heart, Skira 2013, p.52;
Exhibited:
- Kilengi: African Art from the Bareiss Family Collection, Iowa City, The University of Iowa Museum of Art, 27 March-23 May 1999
- Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover 30 August-19 October 1997
- MAK- Österreichisches Museum Für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna, 12 November 1997 - 18 January 1998
- Städtische Galerie Im Lenbachaus, Munich 8 April-5 July 1998
- The University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City, 27 March- 23 May 1999
- Neuberger Museum of Art, State University of New York, Purchase, 26 September 1999-10 January 2000
ARTHKADE number: KLN-099204
Van Rijn Archive of African Art number: 0029671-01
David Malík PhD
Founder/Director
