Figure, Dengese; D.R.C. Congo
Wood; H. 24 3/4"
The Dengese, who live across the Sankuru
River from the Kuba nation, are not known to have
produced large quantities of figural sculpture.
Most notable are large figures with elaborate scarification
having a royal and/ or funerary function. This figure
though related, is stylistically quite different
from the more well known Dengese works, and depicts
a titled woman with little scarification and accouterments
of rank that diverge from the classical Dengese
canon. It is in fact quite possible that this figure
may originate from the southernmost of the Dengese
people living just north of the Shoowa or Bukela
subgroups of the Kuba, who are known to make images
of female chiefs. Whatever her original function,
this image immediately arrests the viewer as a regal
object, well balanced, and with a deceptive simplicity
which, in actuality, is formed from a series of
extremely complex volumes undulating from top to
bottom.
