A standing commemorative figure. Sudan, Bongo. Late 19th to Early 20th century. 58 1/2"h x 14"w x 8"d.
Provenance: Inventory and Collection from the Estate of Merton D. Simpson.
Simpson inventory #8720. Acquired January 21, 1999 from Alain Dufour.
Simpson archives: purchased $34,000 / asking price $150,000
Catalog Notes: While today the Bongo people, a tribe of hunters and farmers, live scattered throughout south-western Sudan, in the second half of the nineteenth century the culture was nearly annihilated. Traditionally, the men of the culture gain higher standing in their culture through recognition of their talents. Those seen as the greatest in their ability are honored in effigy upon their death as a carved wooden ngya is erected to mark their tomb. As Sir Edward Evans-Pritchard noted in his journey in the Tonj region in the late 1920s, each community has its own master sculptures that create the effigies (1929, 1061).
Unknown until the latter half of the twentieth century, Bongo sculptures were represented in museum collections by only a small group. For a similar object see Sotheby's, New York, "Oceanic and Pre-Columbian art including property from the Lerner, Shoher and Vogel Collections", May 11, 2012, lot 204.
Condition: Objects do not come with stands.