About the lot N° 158
Title : A Holo Seated Female Figure, Angola
Size : measurements note height 17 in. 43 cm Provenance : Peter Loebarth, HamelnFred Jahn, MunichLiterature : François Neyt, Art traditional et Histoire au Zaïre: Cultures Forestières et Royaumes de la Savane, Louvain, 1981, pp. 125-126, fig. VI.13François Neyt, The Art of the Holo, Munich, 1982, p. 72, fig. 33Christopher D. Roy, Kilengi: African Art from the Bareiss Family Collection, Seattle, 1997, pp. 221 and 376 , fig. 134--, Kilengi. Afrikanische Kunst aus der Sammlung Bareiss, Hanover, 1997, pp. 225 and 381, fig. 134Raoul Lehuard, Kilengi, Arts d'Afrique Noire Premiers, no. 106, Eté 1998, p. 42Notes : According to Neyt (1982: 40) this figure comes from the village Paka in Angola (Boti Region, Malange Province). It is said to be a magic figure mvunzi, which protects humans against certain evil spirits. The main fortuneteller usually possesses such mvunzi, who employs them in cases of sickness, for theft or for the hunt.Roy (1997: 376, text to fig. 134) adds: This female figure was used by a traditional healer of the Tulamba segment of Holo society to manipulate the super-natural power that was his by right of first occupation of the land. Such power figures, used for healing, are called mvunzi, and the object represents the pole opposite [of] the queen figure Holo dya Mukhetu in the system of oppositions of nature/culture, magical/political power. [...] The squatting or hocken pose is ubiquitous in the Kwango-Kwili Rivers area among such nearby peoples as the Yaka, Suku and Chokwe. The heart-shaped face and convex, oval eyes are reminiscent of the masks of peoples to the north, down the Kwango River, especially the Lula.Sotheby's, auctioneer, New York, US
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Sale title : African, Oceanic and Pre-Columbian Art
Sale date : 16 May 2008
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Sale Reference : Live Sale
