African South Central Zaire Kuba Woman’s Pestle

Caption Literature

A Fine African South Central Zaire Kuba Woman’s Pestle Shaped from the Ivory Tusk of an Elephant
The grip indented and worn smooth from a long period of use
Smooth silky patina
19th Century
Size: 64.5cm long – 24½ ins long
See catalogue no. 13, item no. 47, and catalogue no. 16, item no. 99, for other examples

Used by Kuba women to pound food for ceremonial occasions, these pestles are fashioned and patinated by decades of use. They are probably emblematic of a powerful ancestral hunter, and having amuletic properties, the pestles are ritually handed down through the female line and regarded by each generation as status imbued objects.

African South Central Zaire Kuba Woman’s Pestle