Obviously from a Bembe carver it has not been possible to establish if this fine little carving was ever used by the Bembe because of the encrustation over its posterior. The fetish application on its back makes it obvious that it was used by the neighbouring Kongo peoples, and indeed it is not unusal for one people to admire and use a carving from another group, if they believe it could be efficacious.
Lehuard (1989, pp.346-347) illustrates a number of similar carvings of male figures holding a knife and gun, and with varied hairdos (none of them similar to the present figure), which he suggests might represent ancestors