Description:

African, Central Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Luba culture, 20th century. Rattles are an African art form, not only used as a musical instruments, but also as a works of sculpture employed in religious and secular ceremonies involving dance and other rituals. This example is a basket-like form with seeds inside the vessel to produce sonorous, syncopated beats. It is functional and exhibits excellent basketry technique. Published in Turn Up the Volume A Celebration of African Music UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History (1999), catalogue number 26, p. 261. The catalogue description reads as follows, "Luba rattles are central to divination practices for healing the sick and reversing misfortune. A Luba diviner enters a state of spirit possession through a combination of percussion and song. Female relatives sing the 'Song for Twins' to invoke the spirits' attention, while shaking rattles and ringing bells. Once the spirit has 'mounted' the diviner's head, the women continue to play the instruments in order to maintain the presence of the spirit throughout the duration of the consultation. It is the spirit who guides the diviner to cure the solution for a given problem (Mary Nooter Roberts and Allen F. Roberts, Memory: Luba Art and the Making of History. New York: The Museum of African Art, 1996, p. 191). 10-1/2"H x 10"W x 4-1/2"D

Provenance: Ex-Leonard Kalina Fine Arts, Los Angeles, CA

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$300 $999 $50
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$2,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,000
$50,000 $99,999 $5,000
$100,000 $199,999 $10,000
$200,000 + $25,000