
Statue (Mbala) - SJ.1913
4th quarter of the 19th century. RD Congo. Collected by Father C. Lambin before 1933.
Based on its iconography, this statue can either be classified among kiluba fetishes, or, and that is much more plausible, among pindi fetishes.
A kiluba protected the clan and had healing properties.
A pindi, which consisted of a statue of a musician and a mother figure, was the property of the clan chief. This type of fetish was used in succession rites for chiefs, but also during wars and epidemics.