Standing figure

The position of the arms and the hole in the crown of the head for ‘medicine’, or a small horn containing ‘medicine’, make a Songye attribution for this gnome-like little figure very possible, despite the absence of comparative material. The ring-and -dot marks forming the eyes and decorating the abdomen seem to indicate that East African Arab influence had by then reached that part of central Africa: a date after about 1850 seems likely.

The neuter figure may have been suspended by a thong or cord passing in front of the neck and under each arm.

Margret Carey, 1997

Entry taken from Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Collection, Vol. 2: Pacific, African and Native North American Art, edited by Steven Hooper (Yale University Press, 1997) p. 206.