Female figure

In the 19th century, the new ruling class of the Tabwa, a people living primarily in the Lake Tanganyika region, began to commission local carvers’ with the production of ancestral figures. These families’ rise in status brought on by the ivory trade led to a shift in the power relationships in the region. They based their claim to power on a special social background, which pairs of these figures were intended to help legitimise. The female figure seen here presumably belonged to such an ancestral pair. The elongated body of the finely worked figure is adorned with a linear pattern of decorative scarring that is typical of the Tabwa. It is associated with religious and philosophical beliefs and represents the new moon, a symbol of the continuity of life. Along with the headdress, which ends in a wide plait reaching almost to the hip, the scars underscore the prominence of the depicted personality and her family.