Lot 133 D α

Carved from the sacred wood muvula (chlorophora excelsa), by an honoured master carver or ngoongo, this is an exceptional example of a Hemba Singiti sculpture. The Hemba people have a rich cultural tapestry reflected in their art and artifacts. Among these, the Singiti figure holds a particularly significant place, embodying the complex social and spiritual beliefs of the Hemba. These wooden sculptures serve profound cultural, ceremonial, and spiritual functions.

Hemba ancestor effigies are the prerogative of princely houses which expressed through these works both ancestral worships, as is the custom in central Africa, from the Fang in the North-West of Gabon to the Boyo, Tumbwe, and the Bembe. The figure is also the expression of a relative stabilization of the clans, and consequently that the ground belongs to them. [...] These prestigious chiefs present themselves in their statuary with the emblems of their power: lance, sceptre or knife. In this case, the figure is sat upon a seat, which is quite rare. The authority of the prince is thus further accentuated [...] in this work of rare quality.'#

According to François Neyt (expertise April 14, 2008), 'this rare work of great quality testifies, as an historical and artistic document, to a period of considerable cultural development which it is reasonable to ascribe to a time well before slavery and the arrival of Europeans in the second half of the 19th century, if not even earlier.'

The archetypal style, the delineation of the coiffure, the patina with its deep multilayered black coating confirms the C14 dating of mid 19th century, making this figure one of the oldest surviving pieces and we can date this sculpture to a period of expansion of the Hemba kingdoms, and more specifically, to the heart of the northern Hemba migration to the banks of the Luika. Also, according to François Neyt, this period which was a time of cultural development was the apogee of Hemba effigies.

The person who collected this figure reported that it came from the village of Panda Luganza. The style of this effigy is connected to other works located along the Luika river, a tributary of the Lualaba, the great headstream of the Congo river. It can be compared from a morphological and stylistic point of view with the effigy of a squatting ancestor reproduced in Neyt (page 276-277). Its characteristic hairstyle, composed of cruciform braids knotted on top of the head, is found on several ancestor figures from the same area.



# Sotheby's 2008, African & Oceanic Art, lot 148
Cf. François Neyt, "La Grande Statuaire Hemba du Zaïre", UCL Arts Africains, 1977