In the hands of the carver who made this sculpture, dynamics of power are expressed through a coded confluence of imagery. Though diminutive in scale, it is a grand representation of woman's ubiquitous power.
This possibly unique female figure in the corpus of Luba sculpture offers significant insights into the culture and worldview of the Congolese communities from whence it came. It is also the reflection of local aesthetic values in a world where the notion of “Buya” means both “beauty” and “goodness,” and where art is intimately intertwined with the enhancement of life and human flourishing.
The figure is distinguished by the fine detail of its elegant elongated form. It embodies concepts of beauty, memory, power, and authority in Luba culture, where women served important roles as spirit mediums, emissaries, and advisors to Luba kings and chiefs through the twentieth century (Petridis 2008, 45, and Roberts 2013, 68). Thin arms loop toward the chest with hands placed on the breasts in a gesture expressing a belief that only a woman’s body is strong enough to contain powerful spirits (such as the spirit of a chief or king) and “precepts of royalty” (Roberts and Roberts in Embodiments, 2015, 217).
