Songye statue Democratic Republic of the... - Lot 25 - Giquello

Lot 25
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Estimation :
20000 - 30000 EUR
Songye statue Democratic Republic of the... - Lot 25 - Giquello
Songye statue Democratic Republic of the Congo Wood, metal, horn, leather, vegetable fibers H. 92.5 cm Provenance: - Alain de Monbrison, Paris - Allan Stone (1932-2006), New York, acquired on April 22, 1987 - Sotheby's, New York, The Collection of Allan Stone: African, Pre-Columbian & American Indian Art, Volume One, November 15, 2013, lot 120 - Private collection This imposing Songye magico-religious statue depicts a figure solidly camped out on his legs. Detailed, particularly expressive and crowned with metal blades, the head focuses attention. The veins of the antelope horn on the top of the skull respond to the rings sculpted on the surface of the neck. The powerful body is treated schematically. The magical charges of the sculpture are still in place. The work studied here can be linked to the workshop of an artist, most likely Songye-Kalebwe, who was nicknamed "the Master of the Bulbous Copper Eyes" and who made several remarkable statues. Among the iconographic elements common to this workshop are the long cylindrical ringed neck, the deliberate trapezoidal chin, and the eyes signified by large pieces of metal. This statue belonged to the famous New York contemporary art dealer Allan Stone. He was able to assemble a collection which, by its quality, its coherence and its scope, will have marked the eye and the mind of several generations of amateurs. Songye art had a special place in the collection.
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