Yombé Phemba Kongo Maternity Statue, Democratic Republic Of The Congo

A stunning Yombe or Kongo statue depicting a mother with twins. Kongo artists are famous for their statues of mothers symbolizing fertility, which, along with nail fetishes, are iconic in Kongo art.  They are meant to represent feminine beauty; these are light-wood statues measuring 25 to 30 cm in height, depicting a nude woman with her back straight, seated on a pedestal with her legs crossed, holding her newborn. However, models featuring twins, such as this one, are exceptionally rare.
She wears the royal headdress called an mpu; her face never looks at the child—she is the subject, not the child.
Her teeth are filed to a point—a custom among the Kongo—and she has glass eyes (as do the two children) to give her life and presence, along with beautiful geometric scarifications on her stomach and arms.
The Yombé and Kongo are matriarchal societies. Women play a leading social, political, and religious role there!
Note the base of the pedestal, which is heavily eroded due to its age, but it remains stable and solid.
Height: 53 cm with the wooden pedestal.