A lovely and refined old wooden sculpture from the Kuba peoples of The Congo / DRC , central Africa. Measures 15 inches tall on professional custom wood base. (statue itself is 13.25 inches tall)The ndop statues might be the the most revered of all Kuba art forms. The ndop (literally meaning “statue”) are a genre of figurative wood sculpture that portrays important Kuba leaders throughout the eighteenth to twentieth centuries.Ndop sculpture have rounded contours creating forms that define the head, shoulders and stomach. While the relative naturalism may appear to have been informed by an artist’s one-to-one observation of the King, ndop sculptures aren’t exact likenesses; they are not actually created from direct observation. Instead, cultural conventions and visual precedents guide the artists in making the sculpture. The expression on the face, the position of the body, and the regalia were meant to faithfully represent the ideal of a king—but not an individual King.

Overall very good condition.