Luba
Prestige Headrest
Luba, 1900-1932
Scroll
Luba
Prestige Headrest
Luba, 1900-1932
Physical Qualities
Wood, 6 7/8 x 4 3/4 x 3 3/8 in. (17.5 x 12 x 8.5 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Alan Wurtzburger
Object Number
1954.145.91
Many Luba icons of power and status prominently feature female figures holding their breasts, a gesture that references the role of women as the guardian of royal secrets. Women are thought to be the source of political authority in the Luba Kingdom, which makes them a favored subject of Luba court artists. Said Nsenga Ubandilwa, a descendant of a Luba king, in a 1988 interview: "The chief will put a female figure on the staff to prove that his royal kingdom comes from this woman. It is like a sign or a memory of the woman who brought royalty to us."
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 1954; Alan Wurtzburger, Baltimore
"The Wurtzburger Collection of African Sculpture," The Baltimore Museum of Art, Jan. 12- Feb. 14, 1954, cat no 91, ill pp 14-15; circulated to School of Advanced Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington, DC, June 21- Aug. 31, 1954.
"African Sculpture," The Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, New York,October 8 - November 7, 1954.
"Black Womanhood: Image, Icons, and Ideologies of the African Body," Hood Museum, Dartmouth College, April 1-August 10, 2008; circulated to the Davis Museum and Cultural Center, Wellesley College, September 10-December 10, 2008, San Diego Museumof Art, January 1-March 17, 2009.
Nichole Bridges, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Hand Held: Personal Arts from Africa," Sept. 25, 2011-Feb. 5, 2012.
Kathryn Gunsch, The Baltimore Museum of Art, Wurtzburger Galleries, African Reinstallation, "Conspicuous Consumption," April 2015.
"African Sculpture," The Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, New York,October 8 - November 7, 1954.
"Black Womanhood: Image, Icons, and Ideologies of the African Body," Hood Museum, Dartmouth College, April 1-August 10, 2008; circulated to the Davis Museum and Cultural Center, Wellesley College, September 10-December 10, 2008, San Diego Museumof Art, January 1-March 17, 2009.
Nichole Bridges, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Hand Held: Personal Arts from Africa," Sept. 25, 2011-Feb. 5, 2012.
Kathryn Gunsch, The Baltimore Museum of Art, Wurtzburger Galleries, African Reinstallation, "Conspicuous Consumption," April 2015.
Kronenberger, Louis, ed., "Quality: Its Image in the Arts," New York: Atheneum Publishers, 1969, ill no 16.
Lamp, Frederick John , "See the Music Hear the Dance: Rethinking African Art at the Baltimore Museum of Art." New York: Prestel, 2003, p.80,ill.
Lamp, Frederick John, "African Art at the Baltimore Museum of Art," "African Arts," November 1983, vol XVII, no 1, ill p 43.
Thompson, Barbara, ed., "Black Womanhood: Images, Icons, and Ideologies of the African Body," Dartmouth and Seattle: The Hood Museum of Art in association with University of Washington Press, 2008, p. 139, plate 44, illus.
Baltimore Museum of Art. "The Baltimore Museum of Art: Celebrating a Museum." Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 2014.
"A Perfect Power: Motherhood and African Art" BMA Today, no. 162 (winter/spring 2020): p. 11
On View at the BMA
