A fine and rare Yombe male figure

19TH CENTURY

Details

A fine and rare Yombe male figure
19th century
Seated cross-legged with the right hand to chin, the slender fingers finely carved, the left on his knee, with keloid scarification on the back, the carved armlets and bracelets with some scorched embellishments, the face with inset painted-glass eyes, well carved full lips, scorched brows and scorched triangles within panels of cross hatching to the cylindrical cap, the rounded base with scorched border and central panel of carved diagonals, pale glossy patina with wax infill to minor termite erosion
11½in. (29.5cm.) high

Lot Essay

Lehuard (1989, p.483) illustrates a very similar figure, with the full lips to the closed mouth, in M.R.A.C., Tervuren (24659), and another (p.485) from the Merton D. Simpson archives, amongst others with open mouths and other attributes, all of which he refers to as effigies commemorative of chiefs and describes in great detail, but makes no specific reference to dates. Felix (1995, p. 97) illustrates an almost identical figure in a sketch which he calls Kakongo, and another, similar but with additional attributes, which he also calls Kakongo (p. 95, no. 17), where he explains that the cross-legged position indicates that the person is about to enter into communication with the world of the spirits and ancestors.

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