134 - Yombe Statue, Kongo, Republic of the Congo

Yombe Statue, Kongo, Republic of the Congo Naturalistic depiction of motherhood carved from light wood. H. 31 cm Early 20th century (damage and missing parts; the child is broken into three pieces) The acquisition of this work in the early 20th century is documented by a direct literary account: in his book *Fièvres d’Afrique*, the writer Louis Charbonneau recounts in detail the circumstances under which it was given to him. Bibliography: Little, R. (2016). “The Mambu Doll, or: An Early 20th-Century African Sculptor Identified and Located Thanks to the Writings of Louis Charbonneau.” *Études littéraires africaines*, (42), pp. 141–150. Excerpts: Toward the end of his life, Louis Charbonneau (1865–1951), a merchant and mineral prospector in West and Southwest Africa between 1888 and 1922, gave a wooden statuette to Raymond Escholier, his friend in literature and the author of the preface to the story “Mambu and His Love,” which won the Grand Prix de littérature coloniale in 1925. At the beginning of his book *Fièvres d’Afrique*, in a page from his diary dated February 12, [19]22, Charbonneau recounts his reunion with a woodcarver: Charbonneau, L. (2014). *Fièvres d’Afrique*, followed by three previously unpublished stories. Introduction by Roger Little in collaboration with Claude Achard. L’Harmattan, Autrement Mêmes, pp. 11–12 “‘For you, my friend, who listens to me when I speak… who asks without demanding to learn about the M’Bas, I give you my basika, which you’ve always wanted to buy! I’ve told you, she’s the girl of my heart… The little one she’s holding in her hands is now Lumbo, who helps me walk and tends my fire!… Look at Lumbo… his head is round like mine… he’ll be a man like me… So I’m teaching him everything there is to know about the M’Bas!” Devoutly, as was fitting, I clutched the basika the child was holding—which I’d coveted for so long—close to my chest, and I almost ran away for fear that the Mandemba might someday regret his kind gesture. A fiber cap, an ivory horn, and a yellow mavungu statuette—pure gems of the primitive art of an ancient people—to possess you is good, but to know your history is better!… ” This page is dated 1922, but it is part of a collection titled “Fifteen Years After Mambu” and of the letters he sent to Raymond Escholier or to his wife, Marie-Louise, Charbonneau mentions “Mambu’s doll” more than once. (…) By 1922, Charbonneau had already given in to emotional memories and nostalgia for his companion: from his writings, we can deduce that Mambu died in 1906, and her doll must therefore predate that. It would thus be the oldest African sculpture that can be attributed to a specific individual, in this case named Kumboté. We can also pinpoint its location with equal precision: in the village of Ganda, in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and we can say with certainty that it belonged to the M’Ba-Sundi people—a fact made all the more certain by a 1913 map showing a village named Ganda-Sundi, a name it still bears today. Mr. Roger Little’s comprehensive publication can be provided in PDF format upon request at the office. Paperback copies of *Fièvres d’Afrique* and *Mambu et son Amour* are available for consultation at the office and will be handed over to the successful bidder.