SONGYE, Democratic Republic of Congo. Hard and dense wood, patina of use, horn, metal, ritual agglomerate. This ancestor statue is to be compared with the one from the Marceau Rivière collection (see lot 37 of the June 18, 2019 sale at Sotheby's of the eponymous collection). We find: The same treatment of the head, the same power of the face, the same approach to the human body, the same gesture of the sculptor and the blacksmith and finally the same history (Pierre Dartevelle collection). One can imagine that he collected them at the same time. Height : 32 cm. Small accidents and missing pieces, restorations. Provenance : Former collection of Galerie Dartevelle, Brussels.

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