A rare and ancient Lemba society sculpture, depicting two seated figures, each cross-legged and supporting the other with their arms crossed behind their backs. The powerful Lemba society is thought to have developed in the second half of the 17th or early 18th century, and is tantamount to a guarantor of trade and tradition, but this brotherhood also played a magical and therapeutic role. The initiatory priests of the Lemba cult often used sculpture as a teaching tool. "In the 1950s, Lemba priests, struck by the impact of Western materialism on the country's youth, initiated talented young people in a ceremony called bulwa makoto (literally "make your knees strong") ... to kneel to honor ancient tradition in reaction to influences imposed by the West." According to Felix, "a man entering Lemba society had to be accompanied by his wife, or one of his wives. It is this theme of initiation as a couple that the sculptor has chosen to represent. The man and woman are seated on a wooden chest, inspired by European seafarers' chests, designed to hold precious local or imported fabrics: obvious signs of wealth. Iron rings were attached to the outer arms to enable the figure to be moved, as it was strictly forbidden to touch it." Fewer than fifteen works by the Lemba society have been recorded, and in comparison with those in the Scharf collection, we should mention another in the collections of the Royal Museum of Tervuren, collected by R. P. Brittemieux. Brittemieux, also heavily imprinted with kaolin, with a bilongo on each figure, with holes on each side for the iron rings mentioned above and still present on our example, as well as another collected by Edmond Dartevelle from the former collection of Pierre Dartevelle, who sold the one presented today to Marc Felix before he himself sold it to Dieter Scharf. See: about the Lemba company p. 107 in Le Geste Kôngo, Musée Dapper 2002 See: for a comparable work in the collections of the Musée Royal de Tervuren (inv. EO.00.42920) and for that of the former Edmond and Pierre Dartevelle collections, Christie's Paris sale April 10, 2019, lot 215. Kongo, Democratic Republic of the Congo Wood, metal, kaolin, and other materials constituting the charges, inventory number handwritten in white ink "MLF 049", significant old oxidation of the wood visible from below, old cracks and accidents, beautiful old patina of use and sacrificial. H. 18 cm Provenance : Pierre Dartevelle and David Henrion, Brussels Marc Léo Félix, Brussels Hilde and Dieter Scharf Collection, Hamburg, acquired 1995 Publications and exhibitions: Heymer and Thompson, Sehen lernen. Eine Sammlung afrikanischer Figuren, 1999, pp. 78-79, no. 28 Rochard, Figuren Afrikas. Meisterwerke einer Privatsammlung, 2002, pp. 110-111, n° 39, Ingelheim, Altes Rathaus, April 28 - July 7, 2002