Hemba Male Ancestor Figure, Niembo-Luika Style, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Collected in situ by Martial Bronsin and Pierre Dartevelle in 1972
Martial Bronsin, Brussels
Merton D. Simpson, New York, acquired from the above before 1975 (inv. no. “362”)
Allan Stone, New York

François Neyt, La Grande Statuaire Hemba du Zaire, Louvain-La-Neuve, 1977, pp. 208-209, group V, no. 11

According to François Neyt (2013: 152) "monumental ancestor statues produced by master sculptors were venerated in classical Hemba culture, and today are among the most highly prized works of African Art.  The archetypal Hemba ancestor figure shows the ancestor standing, with hands resting about the umbilicus, with the eyes half-open in a peaceful expression.  This pose expresses the nobility of the deceased, refers to the progenitor of the family lineage, and shows the ancestor as a guardian, vigilantly watching over the world of the living while providing a connection to the world of the dead."

In his landmark 1977 publication La Grande Statuaire Hemba du Zaire, Neyt attributed the present figure to the Luika River Niembo workshops, which, he continues (ibid.) were "situated between those of the Mambwe to the east and the Muhona and the Nkuvu to the west, are among the most prestigious exponents of the Hemba sculptural style, and provide an important link between the northern and southern Hemba styles." The extreme refinement, extensively-worn surface, and deep crusty patina testify to the Stone Hemba figure's great age; within this small corpus it is indeed very probably the oldest example extant.