Chokwe Lwena maternity figure
€895.00
Elegant carved wooden female figure standing and holding a child against her abdomen. The mother wears a prominent circular coiffure or headdress finely decorated with incised geometric motifs, while the vertical composition is balanced by the arms embracing the child. The surface displays a rich reddish-brown patina, polished in places.
Among the Chokwe and Luena (Lwena), female imagery holds an important place within artistic traditions concerned with lineage continuity, fertility and transmission. Chokwe society traditionally followed matrilineal principles of succession, giving women of rank and maternal figures an important dynastic and ceremonial significance. Mother-and-child imagery may therefore extend beyond a literal representation of maternity to evoke broader ideas of descent, prosperity and the renewal of the community.
The quality of the carving, the attention devoted to the elaborate headdress and the harmonious integration of the child into the composition give this figure a particularly refined sculptural presence.
Shipping fees
02743
Data sheet
- Presumed dating
- Mid XXth century
- Size
- 37 cm
- Ethnic group
- Material(s)
- Wood
- Country
- Origin
- Importante portuguese coll. (Belém)
- Stand
- Included
- Condition
- Very good
Elegant carved wooden female figure standing and holding a child against her abdomen. The mother wears a prominent circular coiffure or headdress finely decorated with incised geometric motifs, while the vertical composition is balanced by the arms embracing the child. The surface displays a rich reddish-brown patina, polished in places.
Among the Chokwe and Luena (Lwena), female imagery holds an important place within artistic traditions concerned with lineage continuity, fertility and transmission. Chokwe society traditionally followed matrilineal principles of succession, giving women of rank and maternal figures an important dynastic and ceremonial significance. Mother-and-child imagery may therefore extend beyond a literal representation of maternity to evoke broader ideas of descent, prosperity and the renewal of the community.
The quality of the carving, the attention devoted to the elaborate headdress and the harmonious integration of the child into the composition give this figure a particularly refined sculptural presence.