Fine Kongo-Yombe Seated Male Figure, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Wood, pigment
Height 6in (15.2cm)

Provenance
Margaret Webster Plass Collection, Philadelphia
Lee and Dona Bronson Collection, Los Angeles
Michael Sorafine, Los Angeles
Thence by descent
Private Collection

Literature
Cornet, Joseph-Aurélien, A Survey of Zairian Art - The Bronson Collection, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, 1978, fig. 3

Exhibited
A Survey of Zairian Art, The Bronson Collection
Raleigh, North Carolina, North Carolina Museum of Art, 23 April - 4 June 1978;
Washington, D.C., Museum of African Art, 25 July - 25 September 1978;
Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, 14 November 1978 - 21 January 1979

As noted by Cornet, 'This figure wears a chief's headdress incised with a chief's pattern of circles and triangles. The half-open mouth is very frequently rendered in this style, almost always revealing decoratively filed upper incisors.

Seated on a semicircular chair with carved legs, the chief holds a bottle and drinking cup. Alcoholic beverages, imported in large quantities by Europeans in the nineteenth century, were sought after by tribal chiefs as symbols of prestige.'

Minor pin holes, nicks, scratches and wear consistent with age. Custom base.