CONGO. HEMBA TRIBE. RARE FETISH FEMALE FIGURE. WOOD 1680 gr (58,8 oz). - 42x13 cm (16,4x5 inch).The Hemba tribe is very close to the Luba of south eastern Zaire and are one of its largest groups. They are with the Luba and related tribes together under one paramount chief from the 16th century, or before.In the 18th and early 19th centuries the empire expanded rapidly, but began to disintegrate at the end of the 19th century into independent chiefdoms. The Luba-Hemba subdivision lies in the eastern part of the territory towards Lake Tanganyika.Luba-Hemba revere their ancestors, believing in their reincarnation. They made mainly wooden ancestral figures like the one on this page. These statues are made to revere and remember a specific ancestor. You will find as much male as female statuary, reflecting their dual system of lineage descent, in which an individual belongs to both paternal and maternal clans. Some of the finest Luba-Hemba carvings are caryatid stools, supported by a female figure with straddled legs; arms raised ( I have of these small caryatid stools, get one image on request )
