Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Luba / Kusu, ca. early 20th century CE. A remarkable hand-carved wooden stool supported by a female caryatid figure. Depicted from mid-thigh up on an integral plinth, the intriguing figure presents a slender body with wide hips, large hanging breasts, a bulbous posterior, and thick arms bent at the elbow and raised upwards. A circular table top adorned with an incised periphery sits at the top of her head and balances on the tips of her carefully delineated fingers. Flanked by a pair of petite ears, her stylized visage projects forward, exhibiting a pointed chin, thick lips, a down-turned nose, sunken cheeks incised with crosses, and huge eyes under sweeping brows. An annular navel protrudes from her belly, surrounded by four registers of slanted incised striations on both sides and two columns of decorative striations stretching to the center of her chest. Size: 8.675" in diameter x 13.75" H (22 cm x 34.9 cm); 15.675" H (39.8 cm) on included custom stand.
She wears a loin cloth covering her front, as well as several bracelets, a collar necklace, and a conical headdress that slants and features an asterisk-like design carved into its flat top.
Provenance: private New York, New York, USA collection; ex-Dr. Edward A. Speigel (1923 to 2020) collection, Professor of Astronomy at New York University and Columbia University
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#162174
Condition
Areas of base missing. Part of top reattached. Fissure to posterior up to headdress. Expected surface wear with abrasions as shown. Otherwise, nice with light patina.