This is a very interesting traditional Tabwa tribal hand-carved wood figure from The Tabwa people living in the southeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the northeast of Zambia, along Lake Tanganyika. The Tabwa carved wooden figures to represent ancestors, great healers, and earth spirits. Some of the Tabwa figures were kept by lineage elders in special buildings within their components, where the elders sometimes slept to receive ancestral inspiration in their dreams. The figures had powers to heal and protect. Tabwa art is both a symbol and an aesthetic statement.
Such figurative sculptures were prestige objects used for divination purposes and also represented the lineage chiefs and sorcerers among the tribes’ people. This is an old miniature figure with formidable features, facial features, mushroom-like top and also a brown patina, it looks visibly old with considerable age.
- Material: Ivory
- Age:50-60 yrs
- Origin: Democratic Republic of Congo
- Condition: Good
- SKU: LMIN-020
- Weight: 0.1 kg
- Dimensions: 3.5 x 13 x 2.5 cm