Kusu or Songye statuette, DRC ex Zaire - Lot 93

Kusu or Songye statuette, DRC ex Zaire The Kusu, who settled on the left bank of the Lualaba, borrowed artistic traditions from the Luba and Hemba, and have a caste system similar to that of the Luba. The Hemba settled in southeastern Zaire, on the right bank of the Lualaba. Once under Luba domination, these farmers and hunters practiced ancestor worship using effigies long attributed to the Luba. Singiti statues were preserved by the fumu mwalo and honored in ceremonies during which sacrifices were offered to them. In addition to the authority of hereditary chiefs, secret societies - the bukazanzi, for men, and the bukibilo, for women - played an important role within the clan. This statuette is also reminiscent of Songye and Nsapo statuettes, equipped with horns into which a magical charge was inserted. The treatment of the soft-featured face remains naturalistic. The blue necklace, however, could be a symbol of the septennial cycle of the bukishi society. Precise identification of this piece remains elusive, as several neighboring ethnic groups in the former. Zaire have used fetishes of this type for protective or therapeutic purposes. The particularly lustrous wood is coated with red pigments and the wide, worm-eaten feet. Desiccation crack 41 x 10 cm (Source: "Trésors d'Afrique, Musée de Tervuren ; "L'Art tribal d'Afrique noire" J.B. Bacquart