SOUVERAIN in the effigy of George V

Nzambi sculpture, Holo Democratic Republic of Congo / Northern Angola Wood. Dimensions: 29 x 19 x 3.8 cm Provenance: John J. Klejman Collection, New York John J. Klejman Collection, New York (inv. n°11343) Private American collection From the fifteenth century onwards, Christian iconography penetrated, influenced and irradiated Central African artistic creation through contact with Europeans, notably with the conversion of the ruler of the Kongo kingdom, Nzinga. Kongo kingdom, Nzinga. Liturgical objects designed to spread the faith spread, while at the same time new artistic forms and religious practices emerged in Kongo country. This is evidenced by devotional objects such as crucifixes, representations of saints in ivory, and exceptional wooden figures like the one presented here. These framed figures, like paintings whose originality is revealed by their play of dimensions, probably appeared in the seventeenth century during the second phase of the Christianization of the kingdom by the Capuchin missionaries, who arrived in the territory in 1645. According to Albert Maesen, Doctor of Art History and Archaeology and Curator of the Musée du Congo Belge, these images are reminiscent of the Christian crucifix introduced by the Capuchins of the Sainte-Marie de Matamba mission. Like framed Christian crucifixes and other saintly figures, these sacred panels acted as protective amulets and were kept in houses called nzo santu, as part of the Nzambi cult. The figure, a hermaphrodite, stands in a conventional pose, carved from the same wood as the frame that both displays and contains it. While the figure's outstretched arms and legs are reminiscent of Christian iconography, its plastic treatment is characteristic of the Holo style - triangular head, almond-shaped eyes, short, bent legs. The sacred significance of the shaped effigy is accentuated by the play of full and empty spaces created by the framing, underscoring the subtle balance of the composition. The openwork voids symbolically offer a pathway to spiritual elevation, suggesting the divine presence beyond all material representation. Creating a space for contemplation, the frame, all the more so in the spiritual realm, "obviously requires an extremely fine proportion of presence and effacement, of energy and restraint if, in the sphere of the visible, it is to serve as an intermediary between the work of art and its environment, which it both connects and separates." (Georg Simmel, The Frame and Other Essays, 2003). The frames of the Nzambi figures have a sober rectangular composition, yet are adorned with fine geometric motifs engraved on their surface, testifying to the ambiguity of this visual boundary separating the profane from the sacred world.