AN IMPORTANT IVORY LEGA SPOON

Estimated Value:

3.000 € - 5.000 €

Result:

3.108 € incl. Premium and VAT

Description:

Democratic Republic of the Congo
L. 18,9 cm
The reason why Lega spoons are so fascinating for Westerners is that they express the creative genius of their sculptors, who give free rein to their imagination and do not follow the rules they have to follow when making a mask or statuette. These utensils take on stylized, simple, liberated anthropomorphic forms, reaching, according to Emile-Alexandre Georges, "the heights of the current realizations of the greatest Western designers."[1] The Lega's sculptures are the result of the creative genius of their sculptors. The bone and ivory spoons produced by the Lega do not represent an object of their daily life and are only used in the particular context of the Bwami - the social and sacred structure that governs the Lega communities. These utensils are reserved for the highest members of the social hierarchy; only initiates of higher degrees may use them during rites. The spoons, however, do not have the symbolic significance of masks and statuettes depicting humans or animals. During ritual dances, they are alternately wielded, stroked, used as miniature knives, or as a mock weapon.[2] When ascending to the Yananio degree, the spoons are placed in the mouths of young participants in a scene symbolizing the administration of ordal poison given to persons suspected of witchcraft. For this reason, traces of poison and antidote were found on these utensils[3]. Thus, each spoon is unique. This beautiful specimen from which was purchased by the collector in 2006 at Sotheby's in Paris, is subtly designed with very beautiful lines and proportions, whose shape plays with the stylized volumes of the human body: The flat oval spoon represents the head, the body with openwork volumes, is designed after the angular shapes of the wooden statues of the Lega. Its use was reserved for members of the secret society bwami. Beautiful patina in warm, reddish tones, found on many of these objects, is a result of many years of use. Weight: 36 g. Metal stand.
Important Bavarian private collection, acquired at Sotheby's Paris, 23 June 2006, lot 144 - EU marketing authorisation available
[1] Georges, E.-A., les Lega et leur art, sur les traces d'un rêveur égaré au Congoland, 2005, p.220-221. [2] Biebuyck, D., Ethique et beauté lega au cœur et de l'Afrique, 2002, p. 196. [3] Baeke, V. & Rousseau, B., Joyaux Lega d'ivoire, et d'os et de bois de la collection Benoît Rousseau, 2013, p. 19.

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