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Lot Essay
The Luba 'empire' comprises numerous tribes of disparate origin and social organisation who share important cultural and linguistic entities. The influence they extend is enhanced by the paraphernalia that they use at their courts and which comprise staffs, bow stands, figures with various attributes, cups, masks and drums. Of the last category surprisingly few survive and it is amazing to find two in the same collection.
Frans Olbrechts does not record if Claes himself collected the present drum in the Congo, and if not from whom he purchased it and at what date. The drum obviously has age and the robust forms are carved to resist the wear and tear of use at court. Albert Maesen attributed this drum to the Zela, a Luba-related group on the eastern side of the Lualaba River (between the Upemba Depression and Lake Mwero). Mary Nooter suggested that such a drum was made and used at the royal Zela residence (Brincard, M., Sounding Forms, Washington D.C., 1989, p.102). Nooter writes that most Luba chiefs have their own personal drummers who are considered to be the most skilled artists, deriving their ability from the spirits, bavidye. They are summoned by the chief at times of celebration or crisis.
Frans Olbrechts does not record if Claes himself collected the present drum in the Congo, and if not from whom he purchased it and at what date. The drum obviously has age and the robust forms are carved to resist the wear and tear of use at court. Albert Maesen attributed this drum to the Zela, a Luba-related group on the eastern side of the Lualaba River (between the Upemba Depression and Lake Mwero). Mary Nooter suggested that such a drum was made and used at the royal Zela residence (Brincard, M., Sounding Forms, Washington D.C., 1989, p.102). Nooter writes that most Luba chiefs have their own personal drummers who are considered to be the most skilled artists, deriving their ability from the spirits, bavidye. They are summoned by the chief at times of celebration or crisis.