A Superb Kongo Whistle, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Whistles composed of a duiker horn and a figurative wooden mouthpiece were objects of prestige owned by chiefs, priests and other distinguished members of Kongo society. The Stanoff figure, of hollow form with a small hole below the neck, is one of the most refined examples of its kind. Its deep, almost sintered patina attests to an extraordinarily long period of use and suggests that the object was deemed so precious that it was passed from owner to owner over many generations.

The iconography of a seated man smoking, his cheeks sucked in as he draws ecstatically on the mouthpiece of his calabash pipe, is extremely rare and alludes to the consumption of hallucinogenic herbs in order to achieve a state of "trance". The trance related to the primary function of these whistles as hunting charms, calling for favourable spirits when used. The representation of a smoking person is thus an adjuration effecting contact with the spiritual world when blowing the whistle. Cf. Kolloss (1990: fig. 11) for a related whistle collected in 1886. For other examples cf. Loudmer, Paris, June 23-24, 1995, lot 61 and Kan (1995: 131).