A Fine and Rare Metoko Bone Figure, Democratic Republic of the Congo

carved from the bone of a waterbuck antelope (kobus ellipsiprymmus), the abstract human figure with openwork legs, arms to the side and an oval head; fine yellow brown patina with residue.

Reportedly collected in situ by Professor Mouchette, 1930
Marc Leo Felix, Brussels
Fred and Jens Jahn, Munich

 

Iowa City, The University of Iowa Museum of Art, Kilengi: African Art from the Bareiss Family Collection, March 27 - May 23, 1999 (for additional venues see bibliography, Roy 1997)

Gallerie Fred and Jens Jahn, Munich (advertisement), African Arts, August 1984, vol. XVII, no. 4, p. 16
François Neyt, Miniature Sculptures from Zaire, Munich, 1984, p. 27
Christopher D. Roy, Kilengi: African Art from the Bareiss Family Collection, Seattle, 1997, pp. 109 and 392, fig. 170
--, Kilengi. Afrikanische Kunst aus der Sammlung Bareiss, Hanover, 1997, pp. 270 and 397, fig. 170

good condition overall; broken through neck and reattached; fine yellow brown patina with residue.
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Roy (1997: 392, text to fig. 170) notes: "This elegant small figure, carved of bone, was collected by Professor Mouchette in about 1930 during a trip to Congo (Zaire) in the company of the future King Leopold III. [...] The Metoko are very closely related to the Lega, and in fact Lega oral traditions say they are descendants of a Lega elder. To the north live the Lengola and to the west are the Mbole. The principal society of the Metoko is the bukota voluntary association, responsible for social control and very similar in structure and importance to the Lega bwami society."