Songye or Kusu Power Figure, Democratic Republic of the Congo

the number 320 painted in red pigment on the reverse; with two straps wrapped in Domestic Goat (Capra hircus) hide.

Georges Vidal, Cannes
Merton D. Simpson (inv. no. “320”, identified as “Basonge-Baluba”), New York, acquired from the above in 1971
Allan Stone, New York, acquired from the above

Merton D. Simpson (adv.), African Arts, Vol. V, No. 1, Autumn 1971, p. 1

Closely related to the Songye and the Hemba, the Kusu are a Luba-ized people situated in the present day Maniema province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  Little is known of their historical origins.  Kusu sculpture includes standing ancestor figures reminiscent of Hemba sculpture and power figures in the same overall form as Songye power figures.  Hallmarks of the Kusu style include generally stout proportions, and often a rounded, dome-like forehead and a wide inverted-triangular jaw line, often with a very thick neck.

The present figure, seething oil from many years of ritual anointment, is remarkable for its great age and monumental size.  To avoid disrupting the magical attachments, large-scale power figures were moved and manipulated using wood poles attached under the arms with fiber or metal rings.  The openings under the arms of the present figure are extremely worn, now showing beautifully smoothed-down curved hollows, attesting to the figure's antiquity and long career of use in situ prior to collection.