Female dignitary · D. R. Congo, Yombe · ID: 3053419
Starting price
EUR 12,000
Estimated price
EUR 20,000
Provenance
Philippe & Lisa Laeremans, Liège, BelgiumMichel Gaud, Saint Tropez, France
Zemanek-Münster, Würzburg, Germany, 25 May 2013, lot 435
Arno Henseler, Munich, Germany
Size
H: 35 cm
H: 13.8 inch
Description
wood, pigments, mirror glass, base
A piece from the same workshop / artist, see AHDRC 0205389.
The figure depicts a woman of high rank, as evidenced by her mitre-shaped hairstyle alone. Furthermore, she is richly adorned with intricate, knob-like scarifications, and her teeth have been ritually filed down. She may well embody the founder of a clan, known as the ‘mother of the lineage’ – “ngudi” – and would then have been kept in the dwelling of a clan chief.
Comparing literature
Neyt, François, Fleuve Congo, Paris 2010, ill. 214 Felix, Marc L. (ed.), Kongo Kingdom Art, China 2003, p. 101 ff.
Publications
AHDRC: 0203241