Maternity figure, Bakongo/Sundi; D.R.C. Congo
Ivory; H. 8 3/4"

This large and impressive maternity figure probably once graced the top of a piece of royal furniture or served as a decoration for a processional or funerary bier. Dr. Albert Maesen believed that it was one of the largest of its type known and dated to the sixteenth century. However, the soft stylistic qualities of the Sundi subgroup are easily mistaken for archaic Bakongo traits, and it is much more likely that the piece is of slightly later manufacture. Aside from a number of small restorations, this object bears a fine, worn patina. The sculpture is noteworthy in that it displays an overall balance between the mother and child as well as an inventive handling of the compression in the mother's bent knees and leaning body. In a general sense, all sculpture that presents a female and child personifies womanhood, fertility, and continuity of life. What is represented is the primordial woman/ mother rather than an actual person or recently dead matron. Serenity and dignity are apparent in the sculptured image of the female. Her solid body is able to support and nourish not only the child she is carrying but, by inference, all others she hopes to bear. Shown at the height of her child-bearing years, her body is full and breasts powerfully emphasized. The mother's head is never bent but sits firmly erect, eyes aimed directly forward, as if on guard for her child.