A fine and rare Azande headrest and container

eringa, of overall lenticular form, the hollowed wooden box covered by a lid with two opposing, upraised heads wearing striated, cap-like coiffures; '564X' at the reverse and on bottom; 'Samlung [sic] Umlauf Azande' in ink on bottom; fine and varied honey- to medium-brown patina.

Dorothy Brill Robbins, New York

See Robbins and Nooter 1989: 500, figure 1293 for a closely related box from the Kuhn Collection; and Tervuren 1995: 269, figure 233 for another in the collection of the MRAC, Tervuren, collected in Uele by Van Landeghem in 1909.

Azande works of art were acquired by the chief as tribute from subjects and lesser rulers. In turn, the works were redistributed throughout the court system. Mack, in his description of the related Tervuren headrest/box, states (in Tervuren 1995: 384-385): 'this headrest is an example of the adaptations and innovations that were often made to existing styles. It is exceptional in having two representations of human heads carved as finial to the upper lid of the object. The usual form of Azande headrests is a simple unadorned lidded box, or even a log, used to raise the head off the ground when sleeping. The box would be used for storing smaller valuable personal items.'

With regard to the inscription on the bottom of the box it is safe to say that it was not written by J.F. Gustav Umlauff. Umlauff, a German collector active at the end of the 19th and early 20th century, labeled his objects with 'J.F.G. Umlauff + number'. Furthermore, the misspelling of the inscript makes it unlikely that it was written by a native German speaker. Nevertheless, given the archaic style of the present example and in comparison to other known Azande boxes with early collecting history it is possible that the object indeed was collected at the beginning of the 20th century or earlier.