Luba Miniature Caryatid Stool

A hand-carved wooden miniature lupona stool in the form of a kneeling nude woman holding a flattened disc seat above her head. She has delineated genitalia between her folded legs and incised linear scarification on the stomach, sides and cheeks. The face is highly stylised, with almond-shaped eyes, wide lips and a pointed chin, and a hook-shaped coiffure sits at the back of the elongated head. The figure represents fertility, and her role as support for the seated person is both literal and symbolic; stools of this small size were probably entirely symbolic rather than used for sitting.