Pendant with Female Figure
While much of Luba art commemorates events in the history of Luba Empire (ca. 16th–late 19th century), delicate ivory pendants were made as personal items and worn in memory of the ancestors whom they portray. Along with shells, amulets, beads, and horns, ivory pendants were suspended by cords and worn diagonally across the chest. They were sometimes also attached to scepters carried by chiefs. Like much of Luba art, the pendants portray women. Luba women were powerful members of the royal court that held titles and had specific duties. Many women were also spirit mediums and therefore connected the world of the living to the world of the dead.
Pendants were made by professional sculptors out of elephant ivory, bone, or horn. While its texture and resistance to cracking made elephant ivory the material of choice, the thighbones of hippopotamuses allowed artists to achieve comparable effects. Bodily contact through wear altered the whiteness of the pendants. Although this effect is prized by Western collectors, the Luba owners of such prized possessions would scrub the surface daily with water and abrasive sand to maintain a pristine, bone-white aesthetic. That treatment also blurred the features over time. Usually made without legs, pendants often showed women holding their breasts, a sign of nurturing, respect, and—according to some Luba spokespersons—royal secrets (Roberts and Roberts, 1996, p. 109). The coiffure portrays a fashionable Luba hairstyle, while the circular marks and dots represent scarification. The Luba admired the raised markings on women’s bodies, deemed them erotic, and saw them as a sign of a young woman’s readiness for marriage.
Enid Schildkrout, Curator Emerita, American Museum of Natural History, 2025
Pendants were made by professional sculptors out of elephant ivory, bone, or horn. While its texture and resistance to cracking made elephant ivory the material of choice, the thighbones of hippopotamuses allowed artists to achieve comparable effects. Bodily contact through wear altered the whiteness of the pendants. Although this effect is prized by Western collectors, the Luba owners of such prized possessions would scrub the surface daily with water and abrasive sand to maintain a pristine, bone-white aesthetic. That treatment also blurred the features over time. Usually made without legs, pendants often showed women holding their breasts, a sign of nurturing, respect, and—according to some Luba spokespersons—royal secrets (Roberts and Roberts, 1996, p. 109). The coiffure portrays a fashionable Luba hairstyle, while the circular marks and dots represent scarification. The Luba admired the raised markings on women’s bodies, deemed them erotic, and saw them as a sign of a young woman’s readiness for marriage.
Enid Schildkrout, Curator Emerita, American Museum of Natural History, 2025
Artwork Details
- Title: Pendant with Female Figure
- Artist: Luba artist
- Date: 19th–first half of 20th century
- Geography: Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Culture: Luba peoples
- Medium: Ivory
- Dimensions: H. 3 x W. 3/4 x D. 1 in. (7.6 x 1.9 x 2.5 cm)
- Classification: Bone/Ivory-Ornaments
- Credit Line: The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Purchase, Nelson A. Rockefeller Gift, 1972
- Object Number: 1978.412.658
- Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing
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