African Tribal Statue from Congo

21 inches tall

A great hand-carved piece of African tribal art.

I contacted the local African Centre where I live, who replied:

“What an impressive piece. Sadly, we have no one on the team whose focus is tribal statues.”

So, I asked the Africa Department of the British Museum about it and they replied…

“Apologies for taking so long to respond to the query about your African figure that you sent to Tamara.

I’m afraid that we have been unable to pin it down to a specific tribal attribution but it is from the Congo and has almost certainly been made for sale rather than for any use within the community. The  curator for our African collection thinks that the face has the feel of Luba carving but the bulk of the legs would suggest Songye so it may be a relatively modern piece drawing on more than one tribal style.

I’m sorry we can’t be more precise but at least we can be confident of the general area that it comes from and we will continue to look in the literature in case we come across anything matching your piece. If we do, we shall certainly get back to you but, if not, I hope this information, if not definitive, is of some help.

Regards,

James Hamill

Curator

Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas

British Museum

Great Russell Street

London WC1B 3DG”

If anyone reading this knows any more information, please get in touch here. Thank you.