Lot 31
  • 31

A Rare Sundi Maternity Figure, Republic of the Congo

Estimate
15,000 - 25,000 USD
Log in to view results
bidding is closed

Description

the crouching female figure with elaborate scarification, metal inset eyes, the right arm holding a pipe up to the mouth, carrying a small bowl on the top of the head, possibly a mortar; exceptionally fine lustrous reddish and honey brown patina.

Provenance

Hélène Leloup, Paris
Pierre Dartevelle, Brussels, by 1970
Marcel Bronsin, Brussels
Acquired from the above, 1970s

Exhibited

New York, The African-American Institute, Masterpieces of the Peoples Republic of the Congo, September 25, 1980 - January 24, 1981
Los Angeles, UCLA Fowler Museum, Imaging Women in Africa. Selected Sculptures from Los Angeles Collections, November 12, 2000 - May 13, 2001

Literature

The African-American Insitute, Masterpieces of the People’s Republic of the Congo, 1980, cat. 35, p. 34
Warren M. Robbins and Nancy Ingram Nooter, African Art in American Collections, 1989, p. 371, fig. 961
Raoul Lehuard, Art Bakongo, Les Centres de Style, 1989, p. 607, fig. L-1-1-6
Mary H. Nooter, M. Roberts, Alison Saar, Body Politics: The Female Image in Luba Art and the Sculpture of Alison Saar, 2000, p. 75, fig. 20