Mother-and-Child Figure (Bwanga bwa Chibola)

CC0 Public Domain Designation

Mid–late 19th century

Luluwa
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Central Africa

This delicate rendering of a mother holding her newborn child celebrates human fertility. The figure was related to rituals dedicated to helping women with childbirth and preventing infant mortality. Scarification patterns, hairstyles, jewelry, and anatomical details expressed the Luluwa concept of bwimpe, which unites beauty with goodness. Such figures may have served as both containers for medicine and symbols of status, reflecting societal changes in the latter half of the 19th century.

Status: On View, Gallery 137
Department: Arts of Africa

Culture: Luluwa
Title: Mother-and-Child Figure (Bwanga bwa Chibola)
Place: Democratic Republic of the Congo (Object made in:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1850–1899
Medium: Wood and pigment
Dimensions: 28.9 × 8.6 × 8.2 cm (11 3/8 × 3 3/8 × 3 1/4 in.)
Credit Line: Wirt D. Walker Fund
Reference Number: 1993.354
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/125774/manifest.json

Warren Robbins and Nancy Nooter, African Art in American Collections (Washington, DC: Smithsonian, 1989), pp. 436 (ill.).
Constantine Petridis, “Of Mothers and Sorcerers: A Luluwa Maternity Figure,” The Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies, vol. 23, no. 2 (1997), pp. 182-195; 187 (ill.).
Kathleen Bickford Berzock, “African Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,” African Arts, vol. 32, no. 4 (Winter 1999), pp. 18-35; 22 (ill.).
Alissa LaGamma with John Pemberton, III. Art and Oracle: African Art and Rituals of Divination, exh. cat. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000, pp. 66-67.
Kathleen Bickford Berzock, “Maternity Figure,”Notable Acquisitions at the Art Institute of Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 29, 2 (2003), pp. 16-17, 94 (ill.).
Constantine Petridis et al., Speaking of Objects: African Art at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2020), cat. no. 60, pp. 148-149 (ill.).

New York, N.Y., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Art and Oracle, Apr. 24–July 30, 2000, cat. 42.

Jaap (Jacob) Wiegersma, Utrecht, 1937. Mr. A.F.C.A. van Heyst (died 1962), Rotterdam, by 1962; by descent to Mr. J. van Heyst, Ottawa, Ontario, 1962; sold Sotheby’s, New York, Nov. 14, 1980, lot 227. Stuart Hollander, St. Louis, Mo., by 1993 [probably by 1989, see Robbins and Nooter, 1989, p. 436, no. 1124]; consigned to Tom Alexander, Alexander Gallery, 1993; sold to the Art Institute, 1993.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

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