A very old and rare sculpture from the Bwami society, depicting a beautiful heart-shaped head carved in the finest classical Lega style, with line-engraved dots adorning the entire forehead and the top of the head with magnificent volumes, resting on a stylized bust such as folded arms and carved in hollow, on both sides, front and back. Although it is impossible to generalize about the meaning and particular use of each work without knowing its specific name, taken from a particular aphorism, as well as its context of origin, and to attribute such a rare work to a specific corpus, heads of this type necessarily constituted an individual property of great value as well as prestige among a community of Kindi initiates of the Bwami society. A priori, it would be a head, the rarest category, which reflects the unity and spirit of large ritual communities and, with its name, specifically embodies the memory and history of an ancient initiate. See: for heads, p. 129-143 in Ethique et Beauté Lega, Biebuyck 2002. Lega, Democratic Republic of the Congo Ivory Ivory, beautiful old patina. H. 8.2 cm Provenance : Alexandre Prigogine Collection (1917-2008), Brussels Pierre Dartevelle, Brussels Marc Blanpain Collection, Brussels Publications and exhibitions : Grunne (de), Dreams of Beauty: African Sculptures from the Blanpain Collection, 2005, no. 73, Luxembourg, Banque Générale du Luxembourg, October 25 - December 2, 2005 Félix, White Gold, Black Hands: Ivory Sculpture in Congo, vol. 2, 2011, p. 45, ref. A 125