Event Details

Within the Lega societies, the Bwami association presents itself as a mixed association, hierarchically very structured and with its own initiation rites. It penetrates all categories of society, and is involved in all areas, from social to the economic, from the cultural to the artistic, from the ethical to the philosophical, from the judicial to the religious, etc. Its aim is humanist, it is transmitter of knowledge and organizer of the Lega world. The works presented here belonged to the Bwami society. Associated with a proverb or a myth, they were invested with a role important in the rites of the institution. They are part of a set that once belonged to Nicolas de Kun, a name inseparable from the studies of the Lega culture. A mining engineer in Kivu, he developed a passion for the art of this region very early on and acquired, between 1948 and 1960, a large number of pieces, which today belong to major collections, both public and private, such as the RMCA of Tervuren, the Metropolitan Museum, the Menil foundation, the Jay C. Last collection, etc... All the Lega objects presented in this sale were collected by Nicolas de Kun in Lega country.