A very fine, ancient male cult statuette with a summit cavity, sporting a hairstyle with squared decoration and two braids classic of Hemba art, as well as a jagged beard emphasizing the entire lower part of his face. The great Hemba statuary, as the title of François Neyt's book suggests, is largely characterized by effigies of ancestors (idealized portraits, funerary and commemorative), and janiform statuettes (ritual objects of an important Hemba cult) called Kabeja, with a cavity at the top that contained the elements of a "magic charge" and could receive sacrifices or offerings. There is also another, rarer type of cult sculpture, also with a summit cavity, but carved in the form of a bust and intended for divination. This hemba sculpture, acquired from Émile Deletaillle in 1970, is a real rarity in that its characteristics are almost identical to none of the general corpus mentioned above. Small in size, with a compact, compact body, it is a perfect synthesis of the sculpture of the great Hemba ancestor statues, and its face, supported by a long neck, is undoubtedly the work of a great master sculptor in the finest Hemba classical Niembo style. However, this artist's hand - undoubtedly that of a master, if ever there was one - when we look closely at the face and the particular emotion that emanates from this work, is perhaps to be sought on the side of a Luba sculptor, close to the so-called Luvua River or Lukuga workshops. See : La grande statuaire Hemba du Zaïre, Neyt, 1977 Hemba, Democratic Republic of Congo 19th century Hardwood, visible age cracks, characteristic erosion and visible cracks at the base (xylophagous), minor accidents, very fine and significant age oxidation of the wood and very fine patina from use. H. Height : 33 cm Provenance : Émile Deletaille, Brussels, 1970 Monsieur V. Collection, Brussels