Rare Luba African Janus Power Figure

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Description

Two faces look out in opposite directions from one carved head, one watching the visible world and one the unseen. … Read more Two faces look out in opposite directions from one carved head, one watching the visible world and one the unseen. This antique Luba janus power figure stands on flexed legs with both hands resting on a rounded belly, under a tall crested coiffure. Bundles wrapped in fiber and hide are bound at the shoulders, a strand of small shell beads hangs across the chest and a fringed cloth skirt circles the hips. The dark wood has a deep, rubbed patina and a reddish glow around the faces.

Janus figures of this kind come from the Luba and Hemba peoples of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where double-faced figures were made as power objects for diviners and ritual specialists. The wrapped bundles held medicinal charges meant to activate the figure. At 30 inches tall, it holds a console, a pedestal or a bookshelf as a single dramatic sculpture, and it reads well from every side.

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