An ancient male commemorative statue with a striking facial - Lot 91

An ancient male commemorative statue with a striking facial expression. This sculpture, rather lanky in its corpus, has almost all the characteristics of Eastern Bangwa art from the highland kingdoms of the Batié region: wide-open mouth, swollen belly and cheeks, and cocked headdress. The gesture - hands held on either side of the chin - symbolizes meditation and wisdom. The belly, with its many engraved scarifications, is particularly rounded and reminiscent of the bellies of small Mu'po statuettes representing pregnant women. We also note the representation of pang bracelets, men's bracelets in carved ivory, in the same point and therefore of decreasing diameters, threaded and worn on the left arm, from the wrist and sometimes up to the elbow. Numerous ritual and prophylactic removals can be seen on the surface of the beautiful old smoky-black patina, testifying to the special power that this ancient ancestor sculpture held. See Harter, Les Roi sculpteurs, Legs Pierre Harter, RMN, 1993, p.154 and Harter, Arts anciens du Cameroun, 1986, p.103 for a text on ivory bracelets. Bangwa, Cameroon Wood, accidents and ritual removals, age cracks, very fine age oxidation, small visible chips, very fine old patina. Height: 80cm Provenance: Marc Felix, Brussels, no: Marc Felix, Brussels, n°inv. FB105 Olivier Klejman, Paris Stéphane Kurc Collection, Paris