Statue Of The Ngbaka People, Drc 02

Statue representing a primordial ancestor in the form of a standing male figure. The composition is characterized by a synthetic stylization of volumes. Indeed, the round head is marked by an incised frontal ridge. Circular eyes are signified by the inlay of white beads. The cheeks are adorned with cross-shaped scarifications. The body is slender with an elongated cylindrical torso that extends into a rounded pelvis and massive legs ensuring firm stability. The arms are detached from the torso and introduce a play of lateral spaces that accentuates the powerful slenderness of the whole.
A twisted metal bracelet decorates the right arm.
Wood with a patina of use, metal, beads, cracks.
Height: 51 cm.
Ngbaka people, Democratic Republic of Congo,
first half of the 20th century.
Provenance : -collected in situ by M. Van Kerckhoven in the former Belgian Congo                                      
            - formerly in a Belgian private collection