Standing female figure, ca 1880 · D. R. Congo, Bembe, Central southern Congo-Brazzaville, Upper Bouenza Basin · ID: 3052826
Josef Herman, Suffolk, Great Britain
Jean Cambier, Brussels, Belgium
Jean-Baptiste Bacquart, Paris, France
Frederick Harry Gordon Hanley, Bournemouth, England
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.
The object Standing female figure, ca 1880 with the object ID 3052826 was part of the auction Auction 106 on April 25, 2026, lot number 352 at that time and is currently available for EUR 2,000 in Open sale.
You can find more Figures and other popular object types on our related topic pages. You may also be interested in our page on African art.
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