A rare Twa double-figure neckrest

the two adorsed figures, a male and a female, each of similar form with voluminous torsos and rounded backs framed by bent arms carved in relief, the spherical heads with small mouths, broad noses and incised eyes with scarification to the side and wearing pendant coiffures meeting to form the pillow decorated with incised cross-hatching and interlocking motifs; '848' in black pigment; aged deep brown patina overall.

Josef Mueller, Solothurn
Christie's London, June 13, 1978, lot 161
Acquired from Lipkin Gallery, December 8, 1979

The Brill neckrest is one of only a handful of these rare neckrests known. See DIA (1996: 91, figure 60) for a closely related neckrest from a Detroit Private Collection; Dewey (1993: 64) for another from the Joss Collection; Gillon (1979: 118, figure 148) for one from the MRAC, Tervuren; and Celenko (1983: 208, figure 189) for one from the Eiteljorg Collection.

The Twa are a Pygmy group, at one point estimated at about 100,000 in population, living among the Kuba and Mongo peoples. The name 'Twa' is Bantu for 'little people'. The Twa were nomadic hunters and the only Pygmy group known to produce wood carvings. The composition of the Brill neckrest is unusual with clear Kuba influence, particularly in the incised motifs at the top. The dynamic treatment of the figures displays an individualistic physiognomy and conceptualization.