An ancient and very beautiful female statuette, carrying an - Lot 208

An ancient and very beautiful female statuette, carrying an ancient belly reliquary that has disappeared, and adorned with the typically Gabonese braided hairstyle called mitooki, which is also worn by certain white masks, embodying beauty and the feminine ideal. In a kneeling position of submission and respect, her gentle face, turned towards the sky, the sun and the moon, is inhabited by an almost hypnotic presence, her pupils painted under thin glass. This sculpture, an object of intercession, can be better understood in the light of two other sculptures very close to this one, one in the former Meulendijk collection and another with two charges, formerly in the Monbrison gallery. For further comments on our statuette, see : Lumbu, a sacred art, pp. 136 and 140. For the statuette formerly in the Monbrison gallery with two charges, see: Introduction aux arts d'Afrique Noire, Éd. A. d'A. N., 1990, p. 265 n° 277. For a very fine example of a similar braided headdress, see: L'Art Kota, les figures de reliquaires, Éd. A. et F. Chaffin, reproduced p. 21. Lumbu, Gabon Wood, glass, old polychromy, visible missing parts (old breaks), very nice patina. H. 30 cm high Provenance : Jacques Viault Collection. Publication : Lumbu, a sacred art, Éd. Gourcuff-Gradenigo and Galerie Bernard Dulon, 2016, reproduced p. 138 and 139, fig. 90.