Lot Essay
There appears to be only one other bowl of this form recorded in the literature, in the musée royal de l'Afrique centrale, Tervuren, (Maes, 1938, p.90, fig.18, Elisofon and Fagg, 1958, pp.228, 229, and Kerchache, Paudrat and Stephan, 1988, p.300, pl.194) - we can discount another bowl with two support figures in the Frankfurt Museum (Vatter, 1926, p.131, fig.66), which is conceived in rigid geometric forms of three cylinders, the arms and legs as horizontal struts. The differences between the present example and the Tervuren bowl are more subtle. The figures in the latter are larger in proportion to the bowl itself and they rest their chins on the rim, the bowl has a stout cylindrical support and a wide flared base; there is a lid carved with two creatures. The sculptor of the present example is much more daring in his treatment of the form. The bowl is a perfect hemisphere of monumental proportions, decorated with a simple band of hatched ornament so characteristic of the Luba. The two figures hold it lightly in their hands with their legs forming the base - no part of the bowl touches the ground; the arms suggest a rhythm echoed by the slightly flexed legs.
The numerous bowls with carved caryatids found amongst the Luba are known as mboko, previously called kabila. Cornet (1971, pp. 198-207) states that these mendicant figures fall into two categories: kabila ka lulombo, which are set outside the huts of young mothers to receive alms, and kabila ka vidye, in which sorcerers keep the white clay they use for divination and remedies for sickness. Maes (1938) describes kabila and refers to the Tervuren example thus: The third is without doubt the most outstanding of the kabila figures from this series. Made from one huge piece of wood it resembles an old-fashioned Flemish soup bowl, embraced by two seated figures, male and female....
Whilst it is perfectly possible that the Tervuren bowl and the present example are kabila or mboko, we would like to suggest that they are more likely to have been carved as prestige items for an important chief. They may relate to a bowl presented to a Belgian army officer before 1895, which has two birds perched on the handles and is supported on the back of a curious quadruped (Christie's, 1 December 1982, lot 200).
The numerous bowls with carved caryatids found amongst the Luba are known as mboko, previously called kabila. Cornet (1971, pp. 198-207) states that these mendicant figures fall into two categories: kabila ka lulombo, which are set outside the huts of young mothers to receive alms, and kabila ka vidye, in which sorcerers keep the white clay they use for divination and remedies for sickness. Maes (1938) describes kabila and refers to the Tervuren example thus: The third is without doubt the most outstanding of the kabila figures from this series. Made from one huge piece of wood it resembles an old-fashioned Flemish soup bowl, embraced by two seated figures, male and female....
Whilst it is perfectly possible that the Tervuren bowl and the present example are kabila or mboko, we would like to suggest that they are more likely to have been carved as prestige items for an important chief. They may relate to a bowl presented to a Belgian army officer before 1895, which has two birds perched on the handles and is supported on the back of a curious quadruped (Christie's, 1 December 1982, lot 200).