Collected by Paul Timmermans in Dibaya before 1959

Jean-Jacques Rotthier Collection (1932–2009), Brussels, then by descent

Public auction:

Christie’s, London, Important Tribal Art, 17 June 1980, lot 280

Baltimore, United States, Baltimore Museum of Art, 1977

Timmermans (Paul), Essai de typologie de la sculpture des Bena Lulua du Kasaï, Afrika-Tervuren, fig. 4

Brown (H. K. Kellim), Southern Kasai Hands / Les Mains du Sud-Kasaï, Brussels: Congo Basin Art History Research Center, 2011, p. 16, fig. 1

This male figure displays intricate symbolic scarifications and an elegantly carved coiffure defined by a central crest. Despite its male appearance, it functioned as a maternity figure within the bwanga bwa Cibola cult. This specialized spiritual association was dedicated to promoting fertility, ensuring safe childbirth, and protecting newborn children. Serving both therapeutic and protective purposes, figures such as this one were employed in rituals intended to invoke ancestral blessings and safeguard the well-being of mothers and their infants.