Kongo-Yombe Power Figure of the name "Mananguna", Democratic Republic of the Congo

the number '429' painted on the reverse.

Collected in situ by Father Leo Bittremieux for the Scheut Mission in the Kangu region, between 1907 and 1909, with the figure's name recorded as Mananguna
Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain, acquired from the above in 1909 (inv. no. "210")
Mrs. J. Schwob, Brussels
Merton D. Simpson, New York (inv. no. "4893"), acquired from the above in October 1985
Allan Stone, New York, acquired from the above on October 30, 1985

Vatican City, Les Arts au Congo Belge et au Ruanda-Urundi, 1950
The Bruce Museum, Greenwich, Connecticut, Power Incarnate: Allan Stone's Collection of Sculpture from the Congo, May 14 - September 4, 2011

Frans M. Olbrechts, Les Arts au Congo Belge et au Ruanda-Urundi, Brussels, 1950, p. 83, cat. 5
Kevin D. Dumouchelle, Power Incarnate: Allan Stone's Collection of Sculpture from the Congo, Greenwich, Connecticut, 2011, p. 29, cat. 5

The present sculpture is extremely well documented for a 19th century sculpture from central Africa.  It was collected in the region of Kangu by the Belgian missionary Father Leo Bittremieux, who recorded its specific name and ritual function: called "Mananguna'", it was consulted to discover who had committed a transgression, for example a theft.  It was one of two figures identified as Mananguna which Bittremieux sent in 1909 to the University at Leuven (today divided into the K.U. Leuven and the Université Catholique de Louvain).

Bittremieux was the author of the first major study on Mayombe, published in 1911 and entitled De geheime sekte der Bakhimba (the Secret Sect of the Bakhimba).  He opens this book (quoted after Raymaekers in Tollebeek 2011: 20): "The missionary who lives among the black peoples of Kongoland, speaks their language, adopts their vocabulary, expressions and legends, enquires into their customs and institutions encounters an amazing world: an extraordinary human world, strange of appearance and mysterious in content." Raymaekers (ibid.) notes that Bittremieux "lived in Mayombe, among other places, from 1907 onwards, spoke the language like none other and was truly interested in the inhabitants of the region.  He spent the subsequent years there documenting and studying the local culture.  The study resulted in a series of valuable publications and an exceptional collection of objects [... which] still constitute important sources for knowledge about Mayombe".  For further discussion see Tollebeek (2011).

In the inventory of items sent to Leuven in 1909, Bittremieux wrote of this figure: "Mus[eum] Leuven./Objects from Kangu and Kizu/ Nkisi (minkisi). […] Mananguna. The one to be consulted when to know, for example, who has been stealing. Powerful."