Tribal Art

Female figures embodying spirits encircle a double cylindrical container mboko, which was usually filled with kaolin, an image of purity and the spiritual world. The whole is supported by an animal. These vessels were used by different Luba societies, and groups of prophets, more generally by the mediums of the divination society Kilumbu , Bilumbu , or by the healers of the society Buhabo . It was, individually or collectively, to consult the spirits of the ancestors through specialists. This type of cup also played a role during the investiture of the Luba king.
Maroon patina encrusted with kaolin residues.
The Lubas (Baluba in Tchiluba) are a people of Central Africa. Their cradle is Katanga, more precisely the region of the Lubu river, thus the name (Baluba, which means "the Lubas"). They were born from a secession of the Songhoy ethnic group, under the leadership of Ilunga Kalala, who had the old king Kongolo, who has since been venerated in the form of a python, die. In the sixteenth century they created a state, organized in decentralized chieftaincies, which extended from the Kasai River to Lake Tanganyika. The chefferies covered a small territory with no real borders that included at most three villages.
Litt. : "Luba" ed. 5Continents.