Beschreibung:

Superb Kuba/Wongo Anthropomorphic Cup, Democratic Republic of the Congowood height 7 in. (17.8 cm.) FootnotesProvenance Sotheby's, London, 30 November 1981, Lot 253. Hélène and Philippe Leloup, Paris. Important Private Collection, acquired from the above in 1989. The Kuba and Wongo peoples live in a province near the Kasai River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Since at least the seventeenth century, the Kuba and related peoples lived under the authority of kings. Prestige items were important markers for rank and position within the culture. Drinking vessels, such as the present work, would have contained palm wine, used by chiefs and traditional practitioners during important ceremonies and rituals. The refined and elegant quality of the design and form, together with the majestic representation of a high-ranking person, convey the authority of Kuba kingship. Cf. Fowler Museum at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA (Inv. no. X65.3763) for a similar related example from the Sir Henry Welcome (1853-1936) Collection, London.