Lot 59 Dα

Very few of these rare Congo axes are known to us. Two are in the Afrika Museum, Tervuren; one acquired in 1924 (EO.0.0.27400) and the other, (EO.1956.11.1) was purchased from Marcel De Mey in 1956. Jan Elsen attributes both to the Songye-Sanga ( Elsen, J., "Beauté Fatale: Armes d’Afrique Centrale", Brussels, 1992, p.235 and 236). A third, also attributed by Elsen to the Songye-Sanga is the Barbier Mueller Museum (Elsen, J., “Of iron and pride” "White Weapons of Black Africa of the Barbier-Mueller Museum", 2003, p.252, fig.95a). A similar axe in the Wereldmuseum, Rotterdam (WM-32659), is attributed to the Pende on account of its wooden shaft being carved with two masks in the Pende style. Another was sold by Sotheby’s, Paris (12 June 2012, lot 97) and was said to have been collected between 1905 and 1925. An axe, offered by Patrick and Ondine Mestdagh in 2012 was formerly in the collection of James Hooper and another was offered by Galerie Patrik Fröhlich ("The Song of a Bird", Zurich, 2015, pp.34-37).

The present massive lot appears to be amongst the largest of the known examples.