Luba Headrest

Female Caryatid

Democratic Republic of Congo

Collected by naturalist and philanthropist, Eli Weiss in the 1980’s.

7” tall x 6.5” wide x 3.5” deep

Small functional sculptures like this were used by a members of the Luba elite to elevate the head of its resting owner protecting the sleeper's elaborate coiffure, itself a work of art requiring some fifty hours to create.

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, Luba society consisted of an extensive, centrally organized state structured on the principles of divine kingship and rule by council.

Luba leaders trace their ancestry to a dynasty of sacred kings, and Luba royal seats are intended to replicate an original seat of office owned by the progenitor of this divine lineage. Such works associate their owner with the source of his legitimacy.