EO.0.0.43214
Bwanga bwa Bwimpe/Bulenga statuette (Luluwa) - EO.0.0.43214
1st quarter of the 19th century. Wood (Crossopteryx febrifuga). RD Congo. Registered in 1946. Collected by T. Fourche (1930s).
The terms bulenga and bwimpe are equivalent. They both relate to physical and moral perfection: beauty and goodness. This beauty is definitely not innate; it is a laborious, sophisticated beauty that is the result of scarifications, hairstyles, or adornments (such as ivory pellets that are attached to a loincloth).