SINGITI, HONGA SUBTRIBE

Details

AN IMPOSING LUBA HEMBA MALE FIGURE
Singiti, Honga subtribe
Standing with the arms carved free of the body and the hands each side of the abdomen, the heart-shaped face with oval eyes beneath slender arched brows, notched beard, the coiffure projecting over the nape of the neck and with cruciform motif carved in shallow relief, a strand of large disc-like blue glass beads about the tall ringed neck, with short legs, the feet carved in relief on the oval base, a raffia skirt secured by a hide belt about the loins, dark encrusted patina
82cm. high

Provenance

Patricia Withofs, London

Literature

Neyt, F., La Grande Statuaire Hemba du Zaïre, Louvain-la-Neuve, 1977, pp.114-115
Luba Hemba, New York, 1979, no.29

Exhibited

Luba Hemba, New York, 1979, no.29

Special notice

Christie's charges a Buyer's premium calculated at 23.205% of the hammer price for each lot with a value up to €110,000. If the hammer price of a lot exceeds €110,000 then the premium for the lot is calculated at 23.205% of the first €110,000 plus 11.9% of any amount in excess of €110,000. Buyer's Premium is calculated on this basis for each lot individually.

Lot Essay

Neyt (op.cit. pp.114-115) attributes this figure to the Honga style of the southern Hemba, and compares it to another found in the village of Bazila Nzuvu near Ilunga (Honga). They form part of Neyt's Group II of imposing figures of the central Luba peoples, Group I containing the Niembo style of the famous figures in Antwerp and the collection of the Vanderstraetes.

These ancestral figures represent chiefs or founders of royal lineages and were traditionally kept by chiefs and elders in huts used exclusively for this purpose. The serene expression reflects the wisdom and dignity associated with great men. The present figure appears to have suffered slight damage in a fire to the right side of the face and the coiffure.

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