Luba Staff

Among the Luba of the Democratic Republic of Congo, staffs of office were among the most important political objects a chief could hold, functioning as a record of lineage, a marker of authority, and a mnemonic device used to recall the histories of a title. A janus staff, meaning one with two heads facing in opposite directions, carries particular depth when one head is male and the other female, as is the case here. In Luba thought, the spiritual power that makes kingship possible is held by women, even as men occupy the seat of rule, and the pairing of a male and female face on a single staff speaks directly to that relationship of balance and complementarity. This staff was acquired in the 1930s by Rene Marchal directly from Chief Tenke in the Sampwe District, and it later passed through Pierre Dartevelle in Brussels, Michael Oliver in New York, the Clyman collection, and Pace African and Oceanic Art. Its history sits alongside the object itself as part of what it carries.