Hungaan Konda-Konda Charm
Charm in Kwilu region
Some African pendants or konda-konda amulets were worn by women as guarantors of their fertility, while others would have been the prerogative of important men, probably to ensure the generational renewal of the whole community.
Intended to be worn with the "sleeping" face up, this pendant seems to express a transition between the closed eyes of the dead and those of a person waking up or opening their eyes.
This traditional Hungaan (Hungana) African art object also bears the ethnic name djendere.
Hungana people
This ethnic group settled in the east and west of the Kwilu valley is not well known; they would be related to the Bakongo and the Nkanuu, which certain linguistic traits reveal.
They probably immigrated to the region they currently occupy at the same time as the Mbala, with whom they also share many artistic traditions.
The Hungana are famous blacksmiths and they are best known for their wooden statuary and their small figurines carved in ivory or bone.
Pendants such as this one, the use of which has disappeared, were probably used as amulets: hypotheses have been put forward relating to ancestor worship, initiation rites and manipulations favoring fertility, but it is unclear for what purpose. they were intended, especially since no oral tradition concerning them has been found.
From a stylistic point of view, they can be placed in three categories: those representing miniaturized characters in the round, those representing them in two dimensions and finally, still in two dimensions, those which are reduced to the face or possibly to two faces joined by the chin as is the case here.
The stylized features highlight a large domed forehead which occupies half of the faces: one has closed eyelids, the other half-open eyes.
The dotted lines that often surround this type of object have led some specialists to see in this art the miniaturization of masks as observed among the Pende but, this time again. we are in the realm of pure conjecture.
02308
Data sheet
- Presumed dating
- 20th c.
- Size
- 7 cm (10 cm with support)
- Ethnic group
- Material(s)
- Bone
- Country
- Origin
- Tribal art collection Belgium
- Stand
- Included
- Condition
- Excellent
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Charm in Kwilu region
Some African pendants or konda-konda amulets were worn by women as guarantors of their fertility, while others would have been the prerogative of important men, probably to ensure the generational renewal of the whole community.
Intended to be worn with the "sleeping" face up, this pendant seems to express a transition between the closed eyes of the dead and those of a person waking up or opening their eyes.
This traditional Hungaan (Hungana) African art object also bears the ethnic name djendere.
Hungana people
This ethnic group settled in the east and west of the Kwilu valley is not well known; they would be related to the Bakongo and the Nkanuu, which certain linguistic traits reveal.
They probably immigrated to the region they currently occupy at the same time as the Mbala, with whom they also share many artistic traditions.
The Hungana are famous blacksmiths and they are best known for their wooden statuary and their small figurines carved in ivory or bone.
Pendants such as this one, the use of which has disappeared, were probably used as amulets: hypotheses have been put forward relating to ancestor worship, initiation rites and manipulations favoring fertility, but it is unclear for what purpose. they were intended, especially since no oral tradition concerning them has been found.
From a stylistic point of view, they can be placed in three categories: those representing miniaturized characters in the round, those representing them in two dimensions and finally, still in two dimensions, those which are reduced to the face or possibly to two faces joined by the chin as is the case here.
The stylized features highlight a large domed forehead which occupies half of the faces: one has closed eyelids, the other half-open eyes.
The dotted lines that often surround this type of object have led some specialists to see in this art the miniaturization of masks as observed among the Pende but, this time again. we are in the realm of pure conjecture.