African Fetishes and Ancestral Objects

The 70-some carved objects from the Democratic Republic of the Congo presented in this book have something remark­able in common: They are permeated with the powers of magic and sorcery, and are believed to be inhabited by the spirits of nature and the ghosts of ancestors. Selected with great care by Patric Didier Claes, a Belgian expert in African art, the works are from the Kingdom of Luba, at the source of the Congo, and the Kingdoms of Kongo and Teke. Each sculpture is identified, indexed, meticulously described, placed in context, and pinpointed as an example of the particular carv­ing style of a specific workshop.