Lot 123
123
The following five lots were collected by the present owner's father, a colonial administrator in Congo-Brazzaville, who, in the years between 1930 and 1935, rescued them from a bonfire during an outburst of religious zeal
A FINE VILI MALE FETISH FIGURE, standing squarely on well carved legs, the face with finely-carved features, the eyes with oval porcelain inlays beneath cross-hatched brows, the fetish material on the head modelled as a domed hat-like form, the front of the body engulfed in a large square of further fetish material with applied mirror at the front and some blue cloth near the neck, cracks at base and back, dark glossy patina

Details
A FINE VILI MALE FETISH FIGURE, standing squarely on well carved legs, the face with finely-carved features, the eyes with oval porcelain inlays beneath cross-hatched brows, the fetish material on the head modelled as a domed hat-like form, the front of the body engulfed in a large square of further fetish material with applied mirror at the front and some blue cloth near the neck, cracks at base and back, dark glossy patina
34cm. high

Lot Essay

Raoul Lehuard (1989, p.223, fig.D2-3-3) illustrates a figure which has the same hat-shaped fetish material on the head and similar sensitively-carved features to the face, which may indicate that it is from the same area if not the same hand. The way in which the knees and legs muscles have been indicated are a particular added refinement in the case of the present figure, which must have been carved during the last century

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