Maternity Figure

Democratic Republic of Congo

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A standing maternity figure of monumental scale, the surface worked in dense geometric patterning from crown to base without interruption.

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Description

A standing maternity figure of the Luluwa, of monumental scale.

The head is large and forward-set, with a prominent brow, deeply carved eyes with red pigment at the inner corners, and a short horizontal mouth. A topknot rises from the crown; the face and skull carry dense incised patterning in black and red-ochre — chevrons, lozenges, crosshatching, and concentric circles — extending without break from hairline to jaw.

The neck is ringed; the shoulders broad and squared. Surface patterning continues across the chest, torso, arms, and legs in the same geometric vocabulary, applied with consistent density across all visible faces. The breasts are prominent. A child figure is held horizontally across the lower torso, cradled in both arms.

The legs are columnar; the feet broad and block-form, set on a plain rectangular base.

Pigment — black and red-ochre — is retained throughout, heaviest within recessed carving and reduced at exposed surfaces through handling.

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Context

Among the Luluwa, figures of this type are associated with ideals of physical and social wellbeing transmitted through lineage. The surface patterning corresponds to forms of body modification marking status and identity.

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Provenance

From the Felice Maffei Collection.

Acquired in Congo, 1985.

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Available on private enquiry.