Staff
date: label: Date
content: ca. 1880
name: label: Maker
content: Luba artist
notes: label: Label Text
content: Luba kingship flourished for more than 200 years in the area that is now Shaba province, and declined under Belgian rule in the late 19th century. Many of its ancient traditions have survived, however, among them the use of stools and staffs as emblems of leadership.
label: Label Text
content: Usually one or two standing female figures, or more simply, a head carved in the round, may appear at the top of a Luba staff of office. Paired figures are thought to represent the twin spirits of Luba kingship, while a single figure or head represents a deceased king whose spirit is carried in a woman's body. This staff of office, which is decorated with a head, probably belonged to a village chief or a court dignitary among the Central Luba.
label: Label Text
content: The accomplished artist who carved this staff was obviously respectful of the stylistic canon but seems also to have had a personal style. For example, he has carved a face less spherical than those found on other staffs from this area, and he has given it a small but bold chin. Behind the fillet, the plaited hair is depicted as sets of chevrons that begin at the center of the forehead, at each temple and at the nape of the neck. At the back of the head, the plaits that compose the resulting cruciform coiffure are carved in high relief, creating voids beneath them. The long neck exhibits a naturalistic detail in the laryngeal cartilage that gently projects from the throat.
label: Label Text
content: The sticky, resinous black patina on the face, beneath the chin and on the coiffure is the result of frequent applications of an oily substance. Staffs were commonly treated in this manner from the late 18th to the late 19th century.
label: Description
content: Wood staff with a shaft that is wrapped with copper along the upper portion and surmounted by a female head with elaborate coiffure and a resinous black patina on the face, beneath the chin and on the coiffure.
label: Provenance
content: Dr. DeCostur, Brussels, -- to 1937
label: Provenance
content: Louisa Muller-Van Isterbeek, Brussels, ca. 1937 to 1979
label: Provenance
content: Pierre Dartevelle, Brussels, 1979
label: Provenance
content: Michael Oliver, New York, 1979 to 1985
label: Provenance
content: Alan Katz, Chicago, 1985 to 1991
label: Provenance
content: Michael Oliver, New York, 1991
label: Exhibition History
content: Pavilion: A New Look, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., October 9, 2019–ongoing
label: Published References
content: Arts d'Afrique noire. 1975. Arnouville, vol. 14, inside back cover.
label: Published References
content: National Museum of African Art. 1999. Selected Works from the Collection of the National Museum of African Art. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, p. 135, no. 96.
label: Content Statement
content: As part of our commitment to accessibility and transparency, the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art is placing its collection records online. Please note that some records are incomplete (missing image or content descriptions) and others reflect out-of-date language or systems of thought regarding how to engage with and discuss cultural heritage and the specifics of individual artworks. If you see content requiring immediate action, we will do our best to address it in a timely manner. Please email nmafacuratorial@si.edu if you have any questions.
label: Image Requests
content: High resolution digital images are not available for some objects. For publication quality photography and permissions, please contact the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives at https://africa.si.edu/research/eliot-elisofon-photographic-archives/
place: label: Geography
content: Upper Lomami Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo
title: label: Object Name
content: <I>kibango</I>
topic: label: Topic
content: Leadership
label: Topic
content: Ancestral
label: Topic
content: Status
label: Topic
content: Male use
label: Topic
content: male
label: Topic
content: female
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African Art Collection
label: On View
content: NMAfA, Pavilion Gallery
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Museum purchase
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African Art
identifier: label: Object number
content: 91-19-1
objectType: label: Type
content: Sculpture
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Wood, copper, iron
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D: 160.7 x 7 x 7.6 cm (63 1/4 x 2 3/4 x 3 in.)