107 - Luba figure, Democratic Republic of the Congo, wood, H. 40 cm x W. 9 cm (on a base). In the highly sophisticated Luba political system, the king held both temporal authority and sacred power. To embody and protect this authority, he surrounded himself with a royal regalia comprising specific objects: neck rests, stools, scepers, ancestral figures, and bow holders—all imbued with profound meanings. These objects, kept in the royal treasury, were entrusted to a female dignitary, the kyabuta, and brought to life in dedicated sanctuaries during specific ceremonies. Thus, among the Luba, authority is not limited to its visible or martial expression; while men exercise power explicitly, women embody a complementary authority—invisible, yet just as powerful. The finely carved headdress recalls the styles historically worn by Luba men and women, as well as by their Hemba neighbors. Composed of several twisted sections, it evokes the hairstyles described as early as the late 19th century by European explorers, who already highlighted their sophistication and social symbolism. The hair depicted on the statue is much more than an aesthetic feature: it signifies maturity, identity, and status, and constitutes in itself a coded visual language. Admired in the West as early as the late 19th century, particularly for its formal refinement deemed close to classical Greco-Roman canons, Luba sculpture was recognized very early on as one of the major artistic traditions of the African continent. Its visual language demonstrates a high degree of mastery of abstraction and a rare ability to condense complex values into a single form.