An ancient and extremely rare kneeling female statuette, its face scarified at the forehead and temples, its arms folded over its belly. The head of this statuette, with its large arched eyes and emblematic scale scarification marks, is reminiscent of the most beautiful okuyi masks of the Punu or mukuji masks of the Lumbu. Beyond its rarity, it is distinguished by a particularly successful hairstyle, with a curved central bun and three drooping braids treated in flat planes reminiscent of the hairstyle on the Punu statuette in the Vérité collection, and subdivided and highlighted by a superbly rhythmic geometric structure. The treatment of the shoulder blades is subtle and, like the old kaolin, bears witness to a very fine antique style. It is difficult to determine the precise use of this sculpture, as it is part of a rare corpus. It is likely that it was placed next to or on a basket, an altar, as the guardian of a reliquary, or that it was linked to a rite of protection, or to a specific request linked to fertility given the position of its arms. But it's hard not to immediately think of the famous lumbu reliquary guardian statuette, formerly in the Musée de L'Homme collections, such is the rarity of this type of sculpture. See: among other publications, for the Lumbu reliquary guardian statuette formerly in the collections of the Musée de l'Homme and (renamed Punu) in the collections of the Musée du Quai Branly, on the cover and p. 58 of the exhibition catalog: L'Idéal féminin dans l'art africain, 2001; or Lumbu, Un art sacré, 2016, p. 141, fig. 31. Lumbu or Punu, Gabon Wood, old white (kaolin) and orange pigments, wear, small visible missing foot (old breakage), old oxidation and old patina. H. 22 cm Provenance : Collection M. Malraison, Paris Collection Dr. R. Taburet, Paris acquired from previous owner Passed on by descent Private collection, Paris Publications and exhibitions: Art Noir, Musée de Brest, 1968, n° 259 Regard sur l'Art Tribal, Crédit Mutuel de Bretagne de Brest, February-March 1999 Ader, Paris, June 1, 2023, no. 204