Yaka maternity figure
€225.00
This Yaka mother-and-child figure depicts a standing woman carrying a child against one side of her body. Its sculptural vocabulary is highly expressive: a projecting nose, large circular eye surrounds, exposed teeth, prominent ears and a crested hairstyle dominate the mother's face, while the child echoes the same features on a smaller scale. The reddish-brown surface emphasizes the rounded volumes and polished areas of the wood.
More significant than the physical description is the subject itself. Independent Yaka maternity figures appear to be relatively uncommon. The Smithsonian National Museum of African Art notes that mother-and-child figures are rare among the Yaka, although female and maternity imagery occurs prominently on masks used in boys' initiation ceremonies.
This relationship becomes clearer in the context of nkanda, the Yaka institution through which boys passed into adult male status. Initiation addressed sexuality, social responsibility, reproduction and the continuation of the community. The Metropolitan Museum of Art notes that nkanda imagery could explicitly refer to gender distinctions, fertility and the reproductive future of initiates.
Research by the Royal Museum for Central Africa also documents a Yaka maternity figure from the Kwango containing ritual substances and discusses its possible relationship to the treatment of female infertility and the khita fertility complex. The museum appropriately leaves its precise function unresolved, illustrating the care required when interpreting undocumented examples.
The present sculpture should therefore not automatically be assigned to one specific ritual. It can more securely be understood within a Yaka conceptual world in which fertility, motherhood, lineage continuity and generational renewal carried profound social significance.
Its expressive facial construction is consistent with artistic traditions of the Kwango region. At the same time, Yaka and neighbouring Suku sculpture can be extremely close stylistically, a relationship also emphasized by the Smithsonian.
02711
Data sheet
- Presumed dating
- 2nd half XXth
- Size
- 26 cm
- Ethnic group
- Material(s)
- Wood
- Country
- Origin
- Tribal art collection Belgium
- Condition
- Excellent
This Yaka mother-and-child figure depicts a standing woman carrying a child against one side of her body. Its sculptural vocabulary is highly expressive: a projecting nose, large circular eye surrounds, exposed teeth, prominent ears and a crested hairstyle dominate the mother's face, while the child echoes the same features on a smaller scale. The reddish-brown surface emphasizes the rounded volumes and polished areas of the wood.
More significant than the physical description is the subject itself. Independent Yaka maternity figures appear to be relatively uncommon. The Smithsonian National Museum of African Art notes that mother-and-child figures are rare among the Yaka, although female and maternity imagery occurs prominently on masks used in boys' initiation ceremonies.
This relationship becomes clearer in the context of nkanda, the Yaka institution through which boys passed into adult male status. Initiation addressed sexuality, social responsibility, reproduction and the continuation of the community. The Metropolitan Museum of Art notes that nkanda imagery could explicitly refer to gender distinctions, fertility and the reproductive future of initiates.
Research by the Royal Museum for Central Africa also documents a Yaka maternity figure from the Kwango containing ritual substances and discusses its possible relationship to the treatment of female infertility and the khita fertility complex. The museum appropriately leaves its precise function unresolved, illustrating the care required when interpreting undocumented examples.
The present sculpture should therefore not automatically be assigned to one specific ritual. It can more securely be understood within a Yaka conceptual world in which fertility, motherhood, lineage continuity and generational renewal carried profound social significance.
Its expressive facial construction is consistent with artistic traditions of the Kwango region. At the same time, Yaka and neighbouring Suku sculpture can be extremely close stylistically, a relationship also emphasized by the Smithsonian.