Royal Statue Ndop

Set up for four centuries between the Kasai and Sankuru rivers Kuba subdivide into numerous clans that govern themselves autonomously but pay a tribute to the Bushongo king who is the main clan and who must ensure the peace and prosperity of the country, in addition to being the founding ethnic group of the country in the century XVI. The king, surrounded by his court, lives in his palace, the mushenge. 

Some statues of kings Kuba represent King Kata Mbula, who reigned of the year 1.800 as at 1.810They get the name of a royal statue. ndop. They were receptacles of sacred power, for the monarch, when he felt that his death was approaching, locked himself with his statue so that it would receive its last breath. These statuettes were transmitted from king to king in order to perpetuate the vital principle transmitted by the first king, the primordial ancestor. The king at death transmits to them his vital energy and the new king sleeps with them to imbue himself with this energy. Some of the oldest statues go back to the century XVIII, though since the century XVI Kuba genealogy counts one hundred twenty-four sovereigns. They exercise a protective power, especially during childbirth.

Kuba art is considered a cutting art and the artist enjoyed a special privilege in the environment of the royal family and aristocracy. The main symbol of power of the Kuba kings is the anvil, for in it the weapons that will serve to defend royalty are forged. It appears in front of some statues dodop. In other cases the monarch of the statue is identified by his totemic animal represented in it.

These statues are characteristic for their visor-shaped headdresses, called "shoody". In this case, it is a statue commemorating the genealogy of the Bushongo kings, specifically a queen. The wristbands, the waistlaces and the back of the caps and the headdress are typical of this type of statue. Meditation attitude, with legs crossed in scissors, the right hand resting on the knee while the left rests on the thigh. Red wood with beautiful patina of time.