A Songe Male Community Power Figure, Democratic Republic of the Congo

standing on a circular base and wearing a fiber skirt, the arms resting on the swollen abdomen, with two magic serval (leptailurus serval) and goat (capra hircus) hair bundles wrapped around the chest and a bell hanging from the back, the circular neck with strands of colored beads and a magic banded mongoose (mungos mungo) bundle wrapped around and supporting a massive head with pointed chin, hollowed mouth, a T-shaped nose bisecting the almond shaped eyes inset with metal nails, the right iron and the left copper, with bands of copper attached the face, and four rows of metal blades inserted into the forehead, surmounted by a tall magic bundle on top of the head encased in strips of fur;  aged varied dark brown, partially oily patina with oxidation on the metal parts.

Acquired in Kinshasa in the 1960s

For two closely related examples cf. Neyt (2004: 193, fig. 158 bis) and Sotheby's London, June 21, 1993, lot 182 (formerly in the collection of the sculptor Arman Arman). The similarities of the three figures suggest that they were created by the same workshop.