Figure

Date20th century

Label TextThree beads adorn this tiny standing sculpture known by the name of mbulenga, meaning "for beauty, for luck." Often used in medicinal treatments, the sculpture was rubbed with red earth and white chalk to assure healthy protection for a mother and her child. The largest bead is actually a miniature basket, and may represent the container which would hold ingredients used in healing. Bena Lulua figures have a unique way of stacking zones of the body into place, and this example is well detailed despite its small size.

Object number81.17.833

Exhibition HistoryLos Angeles, California, Frederick S. Wight Art Gallery, University of California, African Art in Motion: Icon and Act, Jan. 20 - Mar. 17, 1974 (Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, May 5 - Sept. 22, 1974). Text by Robert Farris Thompson. No cat. no., p. 57, reproduced pl. 65 (as standing figure). Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, A Bead Quiz, July 1, 2008 - July 1, 2009.

Credit LineGift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company

Dimensions2 3/8 x 7/8 x 7/8 in. (6 x 2.25 x 2.25 cm)

MediumWood, fiber, shell, reed, bead, and cloth