A rare Suku hunting charm

Estimate

2,000 - 3,000 USD

bidding is closed

Description

the thick, cylindrical body with a central cavity containing fibrous magic material, the head with distinctive full cheeks and pointed nose and mouth beneath a pair of dramatically pointed horns; '678' on the base; fine and varied deep brown patina with areas of kaolin spots.

Provenance

Reginal Groux, Paris, April 15, 1977

Literature

Bourgeois 1984: 95, figure 84

Catalogue Note

In a personal letter to William W. Brill dated May 28, 1980 (personal notes of William W. Brill, doc. 245), Bourgeois suggests that the Brill charm is a type associated with hunting and specifically trapping, normally seen in cruder form among the Yaka near the Kwango River. However, he places the Brill charm more stylistically as Suku from Kingungi near the Lukula River.

In a later letter, dated December 22, 1980 (personal notes of William W. Brill, doc. 304) he further suggests that based on the prominent cheeks, in particular, this charm may have also been associated with the powerful kakungu ceremonies invoked to protect villages and initiates from harmful spirits. Masks are the most well-known works associated with this ceremony which died out before the 1950's (Bourgeois 1980: 42-44).