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9 - LUBA SCEPTRE OF AUTHORITY DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO Made …
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Estimate €40,000 - €60,000
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Description
LUBA SCEPTRE OF AUTHORITY DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO Made of wood, glass beads and metal H.: 150 cm (59 in.) (Restoration to the right arm of the figure on the right) A Luba sceptre of authority, Democratic Republic of the Congo Provenance: Private collection, England, assembled between 1906 and 1938 Then passed down through the family to William A. Creeth, Highcliffe-on-Sea, Hampshire, England, until 1972 Ralph Nash (1928–2014) / Art of Man, London, 1972 Hélène Kamer (1927–2023), Paris Lee and Dona Bronson Collection, Los Angeles Daniel Hourdé, Paris Pierre Dartevelle (1940–2022), Brussels Collection of Jean-Jacques Rotthier (1932–2009), Brussels, then passed down through the family Public auctions: Sotheby’s, London, Primitive Art, 11 July 1972, lot no. 264 Sotheby’s, New York, 20 November 1990, lot no. 162 Exhibitions: A Survey of Zairian Art: The Bronson Collection: Raleigh, North Carolina, North Carolina Museum of Art, 23 April 1978 – 4 June 1978 Washington, D.C., Museum of African Art, 25 July – 25 September 1978 Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, 14 November 1978 – 21 January 1979 Bibliography: Cornet (Joseph-Aurélien), A Survey of Zairian Art: The Bronson Collection, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, 1978, p. 269, fig. 149 Robbins (Warren M.) and Nooter (Nancy Ingram), *African Art in American Collections, Survey 1989*, Washington/London: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989, p. 453, fig. 1165 Arts d’Afrique noire, 1991, no. 80, ill. (Hourdé advertisement) Among the Luba, the king stood at the apex of a particularly elaborate political and religious system. His sacred power was partly delegated to the lineage chiefs, to whom he bestowed insignia of prestige and authority such as staffs of command, arrow holders and caryatid stools. These objects enabled their bearers to assert and legitimise their status within society. This sceptre of authority is surmounted by two finely carved female figures, depicted entwined in a pose imbued with gentleness. According to the research of Mary Nooter Roberts (see Roberts Nooter (Mary) and Roberts (Allen F.), *Memory. Luba Art and the Making of History, The Museum for African Art, New York, 1996, p. 172, cat. 68), they embody protective spirits and play an essential role in divination practices. The bodies of these two women are covered in codified markings: scarifications on the neck, hips and lower abdomen, as well as elaborate hairstyles. The scarification patterns differ on each figure, reflecting the individuality accorded to each woman in Luba society. The sculpture’s deeply patinated surface, saturated with oil, bears witness to many years of repeated anointing with palm oil. The corpus of sceptres of authority surmounted by two figures remains extremely limited. To date, only seven examples have been recorded. Of these, the one most similar to that in the Jean-Jacques Rotthier collection is the sceptre from the Vander Straete collection (see Neyt (François), *Luba. Aux sources du Zaïre*, Musée Dapper, Paris, 1993, p. 125). A LUBA SCEPTER OF AUTHORITY DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO Wood, glass beads and metal H.: 59 in. (Restoration to the right arm of the figure on the right) Provenance: Private collection, England, assembled between 1906 and 1938 Then by descent to William A. Creeth, Highcliffe-on-Sea, Hampshire, England, until 1972 Sotheby’s, London, Primitive Art, 11 July 1972, lot 264 Ralph Nash (1928–2014) / Art of Man, London, 1972 Hélène Kamer (1927–2023), Paris Lee and Dona Bronson Collection, Los Angeles Daniel Hourdé, Paris Pierre Dartevelle (1940–2022), Brussels Jean-Jacques Rotthier Collection (1932–2009), Brussels, then by descent Public auction: Sotheby’s, London, Primitive Art, 11 July 1972, lot 264 Sotheby’s, New York, 20 November 1990, lot 162 Exhibitions: A Survey of Zairian Art: The Bronson Collection: Raleigh, North Carolina, North Carolina Museum of Art, 23 April – 4 June 1978 Washington, D.C., National Museum of African Art, 25 July – 25 September 1978 Los Angeles, California, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 14 November 1978 – 21 January 1979 Bibliography: Cornet (Joseph-Aurélien), A Survey of Zairian Art: The Bronson Collection, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, 1978, p. 269, fig. 149 Robbins (Warren M.) and Nooter (Nancy Ingram), *African Art in American Collections, Survey 1989*, Washington/London: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989, p. 453, fig. 1165 Arts d’Afrique noire, 1991, no. 80, ill. (advertising Hourdé) Among the Luba, the king held the highest position within a complex political and spiritual system. His sacred authority was partly delegated to lineage chiefs, to whom he distributed symbols of power such as staffs of office, bow stands and caryatid stools. These prestigious objects enabled their owners to assert and reinforce their authority within the community. This staff of office is surmounted by two finely carved female figures shown embracing one another in a gesture of tenderness. According to the research of Mary Nooter Roberts (see Mary Roberts Nooter and Allen F. Roberts, *Memory: Luba Art and the Making of History*, The Museum for African Art, New York, 1996, p. 172, cat. 68), such figures embody protective spirits that play an important role in divinatory practices. The bodies of these two women are covered with coded visual messages. Scarification patterns adorn their necks, hips and lower abdomens, whilst their elaborate hairstyles further signal identity and status. The scarification motifs differ on each figure, reflecting the individuality that characterises every Luba woman. The sculpture’s rich, lustrous surface, deeply impregnated with oil, bears witness to many years of repeated applications of palm oil. The corpus of staffs of authority surmounted by two figures is exceedingly small. To date, only seven examples have been identified. Among them, the closest parallel to the Jean-Jacques Rotthier example is the staff formerly in the Vander Straete collection (see Neyt (François), Luba. Aux sources du Zaïre, Musée Dapper, Paris, 1993, p. 125).
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About the sale The Jean-Jacques Rotthier Collection: Art from Africa and Oceania
Auction location
Auction time 09/08/2026 at 4:00 PM
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