Lot 118
118
A SUPERB ZIMBA IVORY HEAD, the large oval head with eye depressions for insertion of cowrie shells, flared nose with pierced nostrils, rounded ears and oval mouth, bands of dotted circlets across each cheek and over the forehead and cranium, on short neck, golden-brown patina

Details
A SUPERB ZIMBA IVORY HEAD, the large oval head with eye depressions for insertion of cowrie shells, flared nose with pierced nostrils, rounded ears and oval mouth, bands of dotted circlets across each cheek and over the forehead and cranium, on short neck, golden-brown patina
10cm. long
Literature
Berjonneau and Sonnery, 1987, p.118, fig.61
where it mentions the figure was collected in 1947 in the province of Maniema

Lot Essay

The Zimba are a group of people to the South West of the Lega, who have a similar association to bwami which they call luhuna, and are influenced by the art of the Lega. Cf. another fine Zimba ivory head, similarly decorated with dotted circlets and missing the cowrie shell eyes, exhibited in Antwerp, 1975, fig. 101

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