2-730-581 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Half-Figure, late 1800s-early 1900s. This torso is believed to be carved in the style of the Kusu people, closely related but little-known neighbors of the Luba. In fact, the figure's facial traits and coiffure are characteristic of Luba art. Iron tacks inserted into the lobes of the hairdo indicate that the sculpture was originally empowered with magical and medicinal substances. Thus charged, the figure would have been used in divination and was related to a powerful association known as Bugabo, popular during early colonial times among various peoples in eastern Congo; members specialized in healing, hunting, and fighting crime. Other such sculptures once topped gourds, and some rare complete examples have survived, but this was most likely never the case for this figure.