Mbala Figure
Rare and Beautiful Bapende-Mbala Maternity Figure
Holding a child on her left side and one standing next to her.
Height: 26.5cm
In African art Mbala, the main sculptures were named after pindi and were carved in pairs: a statue of maternity, gihalu giwenyi, and a statue of a limba musician. Here is a beautiful Mbala maternity. A standing mother carries a child on her side and another standing next to her. The mother has a crested hairstyle filled with copper nails. The child carried on the left affirms this side as that of femininity among the Mbala.
The statues of this type were the property of territorial chiefs who invoked the characters in the event of misfortunes such as war, conflicts, poor harvests, epidemics, etc. Their main use, however, was to be insignia of authority during the rites of accession of chiefs.
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