| Songye/Luba/Hemba shakaree (rattles) |
| These type of objects are widespread among the Luba and Hemba groups. The handles are carved in the shape of human torsos, or heads, with facial features denoting a serene expression, or janus, reminiscent of the janus Kabeja figures. Dried seeds inside the gourd produce a rattle sound. Luba and Hemba rattles first appeared in publications in 1975. Judging from the refinement and delicacy of the modeling, they were clearly carved by the same artists who sculpted the famous ancestral figures. A careful stylistic analysis could attribute each rattle to a specific atelier, based on the type of coiffure. According to field data collected by Neyt (1981:275), these rattles were used in the Bagabo secret society. Other scholars suggest that since the rattles appeared in the art market in the early 1970s, at the same time as the ancestral statues, they could have been used in rituals pertaining to the cults connected with the worship of the ancestral statues. The rattles may also have been used by diviners in healing the sick, by evoking spirits, or by dispelling bad spirits from the body of their patients (Gansemans 1980:9). |
| Songye/Luba/Hemba rattle |
| Examples of older Hemba rattles below for reference purposes |
| Sotheby's May 19, 2000 |
| 65 A Hemba rattle two pierced calabashes, each with beads inside for sound, supporting a female cylindrical torso with diminutive shoulders issuing bent arms with hands grasping the breasts, the thick neck beneath an oval head with classical features, wearing a cruciform coiffure, holes at the crown and ears for insertion; fine encrusted blackened patina, collection reference no. 168. Provenance: Acquired from Pierre Dartevelle, Brussels, 1973-74 estimate $4,000-6,000 |
| 66 A Hemba rattle supported by a spherical calabash decorated with four cross-shaped incisions and containing beads for sound, encircled by a band of feathers beneath a male figure with protruding abdomen tapering to the chest, the elongated neck with Adam's apple beneath the oval face the sloping forehead leading to a backswept bifurcated coiffure, a hole at the crown for insertion; fine and worn medium brown patina, collection reference no. 92. height 73/4 in. (19.7cm.); with base height 10 inches. (25.4cm.) Provenance: Acquired from Pierre Dartevelle, Brussels, 1972-74 Published: Neyt and de Strijcker, Approche des Arts Hemba, l974:no. 53 estimate$6,000-8,000 |
| 67 A Hemba janiform rattle the two calabashes, encircled at the top by a strand of feathers, the torso tapering at the waist and flaring at the chest, the elongated neck beneath the janiform head each with pointed chins, straight mouths, flat noses and downcast eyes surmounted by a conical coiffure; fine encrusted blackened patina, collection reference no. 94. height 9 3/4in. (24.8cm.) Provenance: Acquired from Pierre Dartevelle, Brussels, 1972-74 $6,000-9,000 |
| 69 A Hemba janiform rattle two hollowed spherical balls stacked one atop the other, with slits and crosses pierced through, and supporting a janiform figure with angular torso and slender bent cutaway arms, the flat shoulders beneath an elongated neck and classical faces with large oval eyes, exceptionally worn through use, a square plug at the crown; exceptionally fine encrusted blackened patina: collection reference no. 93. height 8 3/4in. (22.2cm.) Provenance: Acquired from Pierre Dartevelle, Brussels, 1972-74 $3,000-5,000 |
| 68 A fine Hemba janiform rattle two hollowed spherical gourde stacked one atop the other supporting a janiform figured encircled by a feather skirt at the waist, the abstract figure of minute proportions, beneath an elongated neck, each face finely carved with classical features including large oval eyes beneath a square finial at the crown; exceptionally fine encrusted dark brown patina, collection reference no. 99. height 81/4 in. (21cm.) Provenance: Acquired from Pierre Dartevelle, Brussels, 1972-74 $5,000-7,000 |