A rare Luena female figure

the tense legs leading to full hips, the torso with two holes for insertion, with broad shoulders, prominent shoulder blades and hands held to the front, one turned up and the other down, beneath the helmet-shaped head with distinctive slit mouth and slit eyes inset with metal and wearing a tall, cap-like coiffure with incised crosshatching and brass tacks; '916' on the base; dark brown patina overall.

Pierre Loos, Galerie Ambre, Brussels, before 1978

African Arts (advertisement), Autumn 1978: 27

Among the Luena, female figurative works represent the importance of matrilineage and the transmission of knowledge and power through the women of the community (Bastin 1982: 72).

The Brill figure most likely had a magical function given the presence of cavities at the center of the torso. The expression is stern and the eyes with metal staples inserted have a haunting and trance-like effect. The formal treatment of the body is unusual within the corpus of Luena figures with hands displayed in an unusual opposing position.