Luba shankadi
not available anymore
size: 33 cm
provenance: Mon Steyart, rue Lebeau 1970-180's
Luba shankadi information request of availability
Luba man with cascade coiffure from the book Hair
in African Art and Culture, photo Franck
probably early 20th century
Democratic Republic of Congo; Luba or Shankadi
Wood, red Tokula powder on the face and some of the scarifications.
H. 13 in. (33 cm)
from Mon Steyart, rue Lebeau 1970-180's
The Luba peoples occupy a land of rivers and savanna in the southeast of what
is today Democratic Republic of Congo.
As early as the seventeenth century, the Luba headed an extensive, centrally
organized state structured on the principles of divine kingship and rule by
council. The widespread trade networks in the region produced individuals of
great wealth and prestige who commissioned fine works of art for personal and
political use.
Interesting
on this Luba Shankadi seat is the way the sculptor made the face spring out of
the body.
Used by a member of the Luba elite, this seat sculpture has fine carvings.
Its function may appear prosaic but it represents an elaborate coiffure, itself
a work of art requiring some fifty hours to create. Here, the artist has
composed a playful visual pun by emphasizing and enlarging the swooping curves
of the sculpted figure's own elaborate hair designs.
This seat is one of a group of less than twenty works attributed to a single
master sculptor. Because of the treatment of the fan-shaped hair arrangement, a
typical hairstyle of this region in the nineteenth century, this artist is known
as the Master of the Cascade Coiffure.
Luba shankadi not available anymore
information request of availability
books related to
the Luba:
Hair
in African Art and Culture
Zaire
Masken Figuren [ 1986 ] (Unterer Zaire, Kwango Kwilu,
Kwilu Kasai, Kasai Sankuru, Luba Songye, Salampasu, Cokwe) (Paperback)
~ Bernhard Gardi (Author)
Luba (Visions of Africa) 
~ Mary Roberts
Music from the Luba-Shankadi du Shaba :
Kanyok
and Luba - Southern Belgian Congo 1952 & 1957
~ Kanyok & Luba
Missa Luba: A mass sung in pure congolese style, and native
songs of the Congo
~ LES TROUBADOURS DU ROI BAUDOUIN
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