CARYATID SEAT LUBA HEMBA

Origin: Democratic Republic of the Congo

Period: Mid-twentieth century

Materials: Carved wood, old cracks

Historical: The Hemba people located in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo is a very aristocratic and structured society with social codes and symbols.
The caryatid stool is one of the most important symbols of dignitaries, also known as the “seat of power”.
The Luba Caryatid Throne is a remarkable piece, which shows the figure of a woman literally and symbolically supporting the person seated on it. According to Claessens, “the figure represented the first woman of the clan from which the whole group is said to have descended. Thrones like these were used by chieftains to legitimize their claim to power. »

Carved from a single piece of wood, it depicts a female figure in the tradition of idealized portraits of the northern Hemba region of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Luba Hemba are matrilineal societies and women possess the power to act as an intermediary between living beings and spirits in the natural world and the realm of the ancestors. To associate her with royal power through the siege is the greatest tribute that can be paid to women.

Origin: PFAFF Collection, a French private collection built up by an airline pilot after the Second World War.

Marcel Pfaff (1910-1984), fighter pilot during the 2nd World War, demobilized in 1945, his friends of the time who are also his mentors, Dieudonné Costes and Maurice Bellonte, convince him to join civil aviation and the young company Air France ex-Aéropostale since 1933. For several years, it operated the Toulouse/Brazzaville route (with no less than 14 stopovers Dakar-Baloma-Conakry-Robertsfield-Abidjan-Accra-Lomé-Cotonou-Lagos-Douala-Libreville-Port Gentil-Pointe Noire-Brazzaville).
His many contacts on the spot allowed him to perfect his taste for African art and his attraction to strong pieces that were called fêtiches: Nkisi of the Songye, Nkondi with nails of the Bakongo, the Luba, LwaLwa, Yaka statues,… he quickly became very well known to the “antique dealers” of Brazzaville and Kinshasa (separated by the Congo River) who brought him the pieces directly to the airport – even if he was able to go twice to the East of the country, to Kisangani and Lubumbashi, which in the 50s and 60s represented a real adventure, in this country in full mutation, moving from the tutelage of Belgium to independence in often dramatic political shocks.
Later, he sailed the North Atlantic and Japanese routes, more compatible with his family life, becoming captain on the prestigious 747, before retiring in 1974.