Lot 27

A Superb Bembe Seated Male Figure, Republic of the Congo

Estimate

25,000 - 35,000 USD

bidding is closed

Description

the elegant male figure seated, decorated with scarification on the abdomen, the right arm resting, holding a flywhisk to the back of the head, the small eyes inset with porcelain; exceptionally fine lustrous honey and reddish brown patina with highlights in dark pigment.

Provenance

Acquired at Loudmer-Poulain, Paris, June 14, 1979, lot 138

Exhibited

New York, The African-American Institute, Masterpieces of the Peoples Republic of the Congo, September 25, 1980 - January 24, 1981
New York, Museum for African Art, Likeness and Beyond: Portraits from Africa and the World, February 14 - August 12,1990

Literature

The African-American Insitute, Masterpieces of the People’s Republic of the Congo, 1980, cat. 38, p.36
Warren M. Robbins and Nancy Ingram Nooter, African Art in American Collections, 1989, p. 378, fig. 965
Raoul Lehuard, Art Bakongo, Les Centres de Style, 1989, vol. II, p. 410, fig. G-25-2-1
The Center for African Art, Likeness and Beyond: Portraits from Africa and the World, Museum for African Art, 1990, cat. 59, p.128

Catalogue Note

Raoul Lehuard (1989, vol. II: 333 et seq.) divides Bembe sculpture into 26 different styles and classifies the superb seated male figure from The Stanoff collection as style 25. This style is distinguished by the exclusive representation of men, the seated position, the C-shaped ears, the open mouth, the long beard, and the facetted knees. However, the Stanoff figure is exceptional in both the depiction of the eyebrows and the nose as two horizontal crescent lines bisected by the sharp edge of the nose, the presence of scarification marks on the abdomen and the exceptional ability of this carver to represent fine details.