Standing female figure, ca 1880 · D. R. Congo, Bembe, Central southern Congo-Brazzaville, Upper Bouenza Basin · ID: 3052826
Starting price
EUR 2,000
Estimated price
EUR 4,000
Provenance
Loed van Bussel, Amsterdam, The NetherlandsJosef Herman, Suffolk, Great Britain
Jean Cambier, Brussels, Belgium
Jean-Baptiste Bacquart, Paris, France
Frederick Harry Gordon Hanley, Bournemouth, England
Size
H: 13,5 cm
H: 5.3 inch
Description
wood, porcelain in eyes, pigments,
These small anthropomorphic miniature figures depict ancestors and are dedicated to them.
Small amounts of power substances (pieces of the individual’s corpse, medicines, magic substances “bilongo”) are placed in a cavity near the anus, in the back or the head. In this way, the figure receives the spirit of the ancestor and is thus transformed into a “nkiteki” (pl. “biteki”) ancestor figure.
Expertise
Jean-Baptiste Bacquart, London, 27 March 2003
Publications
Fagg, William, Miniature Wood Carvings of Africa, New York 1970, p. 58, ill. 49
AHDRC: 0012457