Kuba Peoples, Democratic Republic of Congo

In the precolonial period, Kuba titleholders and other high-ranking officials drank palm wine from sculpted wooden cups in the form of human heads or full human bodies. The cups also served as display pieces. The faces are not intended as portraits of specific individuals, although they convey important information about identity. The hairline shown on this head is quintessentially Kuba. It is a style that was worn by men and women in the 19th and early 20th centuries by shaving a straight hairline with a curved or chiseled angle at the temples. The marks in front of each ear are scarification patterns, serving both as protective devices and as marks of Kuba social identity.

The simplicity of the cup’s lines and the elegance of its form are accentuated by the richness of its deep red tone—the result of applications of tool, a red powder made from ground camwood and palm oil that Kuba people also apply to their own skin.

Wood, early 20th century
Purchased with funds from the Florence Scott Libbey Bequest in Memory of her Father, Maurice A. Scott, 1991.55