251113 - Nice African Tshibinda Ilunga sculpture from the Chokwe - Angola.

African Tshibinda Ilunga from the Chokwe on sokkel, Angola
Height: 32 cm with sokkel.

Seated Chokwe cerved depiction of "Tshibinda Ilunga (lit. from the Luba lang. "Prince Tshibinda"), the founding hero of the Lunda Kingdom and ancestor of the Chokwe. Prince Tshibinda ("Ilunga" from the bantu; "honourable and forgiving war leader": a honorary address form for exceptional chieftains and royal lineages), is revered by the Tshokwe, among other ethnic groups, as founding ruler, sacred king, hunter, warrior, prophet and epic hero.

Tshibinda was an historical prince of Luba descent. He was the second son of Mbidi, War Chief of Paramount King Kongolo of the Luba, and Princess Bulala. Tshibinda had a younger brother, Kalala, from Bulala’s sister, Princess Mabela. Ilunga Mbidi was adviser to the King (his military victories helped expand Kongolos control of the land and create the Luba Kingdom in 1585). Out of MBili's lineage came two empires: that of the Luba Empire under his second son Kalala Ilunga, and that of the Lunda Empire under his son Tshibinda Ilunga.

The Chokwe people (also Kioko, Bajokwe, Tshokwe, Chibokwe, Kibokwe, Ciokwe, Cokwe or Badjok) are a Bantu ethnic group of Central and Southern Africa. They are found primarily between the Rivers Cuanza and Cassai, which is a major tributary of the Congo River, in Central Angola, Southwestern and Western of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with some of the ethnicity spilling into northwestern parts of Zambia as well, being this whole territory the home of some 1,300,000 Tshokwe. They were once one of the twelve clans constituting the Lunda Empire in 17th- and 18th-century Angola.

Chibinda’s spouse, Lueji, was a Luba princess, daughter of Paramount Luba -BaBungo Chief Yala Mwaku of Tubungo (from the primordial cosmic Serpent Chinawezi’s lineage) and his first wife Nkondi Yamateti (Yamateti lit.; “the WitchHunter”). She was the sole heir of her father, above her two disgraced and disinherited brothers. She is considered the ruler who, by marrying a foreign prince (Tshibinda), introduced Luba culture and religion to the Lunda, laying the foundations of the Lunda Empire. Her reign and the migration of her people marked the beginning of the dispersal of the Lunda, including her siblings, leading to the founding of the Chokwe tribe, being thus, a co-founding figure for the Lunda, Chokwe, and other peoples in southern Africa. Her brother Kinguri became ruler of the Kasanje Kingdom, while Kinyama became ruler of the Luvale people. Lueji ruled by handling law and order while Tshibinda lead his army and conquered the surrounding chieftaincies and realms, taking the title of "Mukalenge"("Highest Ruling Authority"); he introduced the Luba principle of sacred kingship and rule by council; his mystical powers gave him the status of a God-King and identified him as a Solar deity.

Under Tshibinda Ilunga, the Lunda Empire rivaled that of his brother, even greatly surpassing it. The Empire extended from the east of Angola to the southeast Democratic Republic of Congo neighbouring the Luba Empire and all the way south of Zambia. Today he is claimed as an ancestor and founding hero by different Kingdoms and Chiefdoms of both the Kasai and Katanga provinces of the DRC, eastern Angola and Zambia (including such people as the Kazembe, and Bemba people). At his death their son Yav Ilunga succeeded him and became the first Mwata Yamvo (Consort King) further extending the Empire. Today in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Lunda Kingdom is still ruled by a ruler who maintains the "Mwata Yamvo" among his honorific titles. The descendant of Chibinda Ilunga migrated north to the current Kasai-Oriental province in the Democratic Republic of Congo and founded the Kingdom of the Bakwa Dishi in Eastern Kasai

The historical figure is depicted seated on a chiefly throne-chair. The arms extended, holding a magic power charge bundle (bilongo), representing the African archetypal of sacred kingly figure, endowed with magical attributes and supernatural powers, who strives and maintains the well-being of his people also throughout his priestly or occult nature. Its depiction, seated on a "ngundja" throne-chair, has paramount relevance in African ruler statuary, it is about a literal embodiment of the ruling class's sacred destination, as well as the country’s literal seat of spiritual power. In Sub-Saharan African culture stools, chairs and royal seats have a consideration entirely different from the Western one, for it surpasses and transcends the aesthetical fact and/ or the symbolical event; they are perceived and understood far beyond their utilitary household object function, and cherished and seen as religious characters in itselves. That is: as spiritual unities themselves. Chairs and stools home and host the souls of both the historically and the recently deceased, preserving part the attributes of its previous owners. In some cases the seat can hold a nature so sacred, as to lose any human essence and have a "given by heaven" consideration: the Golden Stool of the Ashantis, or "Sika Dwa" which is their sacred throne, was, and is still today, believed to have an complete non-human metaphysical and divine origin. It's only allowed for their King to be handled. ts sacred integrity was about to be violated, for the British wanted to know the Stool's whereabouts, the event caused an armed rebellion, known as the "War of the Golden Stool" (March – September 1900), the Ashanti were successful in their goal to protect the Golden Stool, but it resulted in the loss of 3,070 human lives (1,070 casualties on British side and 2,000 on Ashanti side), plus the annexation of the Ashanti Kingdom to the British Empire.

The figure wears as well the unmistakably elaborated tiered front and rolled side elements headgear, which is one of the iconic Tshokwe kingly standards, in a way that conveys the physical strength of his royal rank and the stealth of the ruler's body.
Medium density wood, organic resin coating (Copaifera or Tssmannia leguminous tree copal). Height: 27 cm. Total height (with base): 32 cm. Width: 7'8 cm. Deep: 8'8 cm. Weight: 325 gr (with base) gr. Tshokwe People in Angola or Southwestern Congo.

With provenance;
This carving belonged to a comprehensive Ethnic, Utilitary & Decorative Arts and Antiques as well as Classic Antiquities collection from the property of a publicly relevant French collector. Specifics to be disclosed to the final bidder.

Literature
Carmichael, John, "African Eldorado - Gold Coast to Ghana". Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd.London, 1993.
Van Herreweghe, Gustave (aka Henri Drum) "Luéji ya Kondé" Bruxelles: Les Éditions de Belgique, 1932.
Graeber, David and Sahlins, Marshall, "On Kings", Hau Books, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2017.
Gordon, David M. , "Kingdoms of South-Central Africa: Sources, Historiography, and History", Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History, 2018 Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
Pestana dos Santos, Artur Carlos Maurício (aka Pepetela), "Lueji O Nascimento De Um Império" Publicações Dom Quixote. Lisboa. 1990.
Scheub, Harold, "A Dictionary of African Mythology", Oxford University Press, 2002.
Vansina, Jan, "Kingdoms of the savanna", University of Wisconsin Press, WI US, 1966.