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Highlights: African Art

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Image of Female Figure

Tabwa Peoples
African

Female Figure

20th century

Object Type: Sculpture
Dimensions:
14 5/8 x 4 x 3 1/8 in. (37.15 x 10.16 x 7.94 cm)
Medium and Support: Wood
Accession Number: 2013.0017.0026

Credit Line: Gift of Dileep and Martha Mehta


Tabwa figural sculptures typically depict respected ancestors of a Tabwa ruler. During the mid-nineteenth century, several elite Tabwa families who prospered through trade challenged traditional forms of governance and assumed control of regional leadership. These new rulers looked to their ancestry to legitimize their right to lead, invoking and, when necessary, inventing a chiefly lineage through sculptural representations of royal predecessors. The Tabwa developed a religion honoring ancestors, but they used the system to benefit traditional leaders who capitalized on the remembered power of their ancestors to explain their own leadership positions.

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