Kongo-Vili Female Power Figure, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Gaston de Havenon, New York, by 1971
Drouot Montaigne, Collection Gaston de Havenon, June 30, 1994, lot 41
Acquired from the above auction by the present owner

Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C., African Art: The de Havenon Collection, May 30 - October 3, 1971

Museum of African Art, The de Havenon Collection, Washington, D.C., 1971, cat. 203

Female figures are rare within the corpus of Kongo power statuary.  The present figure is remarkable for the relatively naturalistic overall proportions of the body as well as the finely-carved, lifelike head and face.  Lehuard (1989: 246-254) identified several closely related figures as "Substyle D 7".  One of these examples, formerly in the collection of Merton D. Simpson and sold at Sotheby's Paris, December 14, 2011, lot 57, is especially close in style to the present figure.  These two figures can be attributed to the same sculptor based upon the shared idiosyncracies: lidded, almond-shaped, glass inlaid-eyes; a domed coiffure which mimics in inverse the contour of the naturalistically-rendered chin; square shoulders; pointed breasts above a flaring conical mirrored charge emerging from the midsection; the aformentioned naturalistic overall proportions; and the neatly-designed integrally carved plinth below flat rectangular feet.