Songye - DR Congo

Congo (ex-Zaïre)
Songyé
Bois
Height: 310 mm + base 28 mm
Width: 100 mm
Depth: 95 mm
Weight: 895 g

Former collector's number: 2501
Private personal collection

Songye — ancestor figure

Democratic Republic of the Congo — Songye culture

The examination of all views allows us to attribute this to Songye. The sculpture presents several characteristics that are particularly structuring of Songye statuary: oversized head, cylindrical neck, strongly geometric shoulders, arms bent and detached from the body, hands arranged around the abdomen, bent legs, large feet and a circular base carved from the same block of wood.

This combination is described very precisely by the National Museum of African Art for its Songye statuary: large standing figures, hands placed on or around the belly, a geometric body and broad feet integrated into the base.

Given the absence of horn, of attached materials and especially of a ritual cavity visible in the abdomen or head, I would here retain the corpus of ancestral figures rather than presenting this sculpture as an nkishi charged with substances.

This distinction is particularly well documented by the MAS in Antwerp, which preserves a Songye female figure whose absence of cavities intended for magical substances and ritual additions leads precisely the museum to consider it an ancestral figure rather than an nkishi.

Geographical origin

Democratic Republic of the Congo — Songye cultural area.

The Songye mainly occupy the central-eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in a vast region including around the Lomami basin. The Metropolitan Museum and the National Museum of African Art document several Songye statuary ensembles originating from this area.

For this piece, I would not specify a sub-region such as Kalebwe or Nsapo without additional documentary evidence allowing it to be established.

Ethnic group / culture

Songye

General morphology is particularly characteristic of the Songye sculptural language: construction in geometric volumes, monumentalization of the head, cylindrical neck, square shoulders, angular arms and a strongly marked abdomen.

The Musée du quai Branly describes Songye statuary in particular as sculpture with powerful, geometric volumes, with shoulders on planes almost at right angles and a cylindrical neck.

Type of object

Songye ancestor figure

The very pared-down character of the sculpture is important: unlike large communal mankishi, it shows neither horn inserted at the top of the skull, nor elaborate coating, nor a set of ritual materials, nor an abdominal opening clearly intended for bishimba.

MAS Antwerp notes that certain Songye sculptures can be distinguished from mankishi by the absence of these cavities and ritual additions, and thus regard them as ancestor figures.

Artistic and stylistic description

The sculpture is designed according to an extremely structured organization.

The large head, almost spherical in its upper part, dominates the body very much. The face is treated frontally, with a broad forehead, horizontal brow ridges, small ocular openings, a strongly protruding triangular nose and an open mouth with individually indicated teeth.

The long cylindrical neck provides the transition between this hypertrophied head and the massive shoulders.

The torso is built in large flat planes. The arms, detached from the body, bend at a marked angle before joining the hands that surround the abdomen. The hands are particularly large, with fingers treated by several parallel incisions.

The legs are relatively short compared to the trunk, slightly bent and powerfully geometric. The very wide feet, integrated into a thick circular base, give the figure remarkable plastic stability.

The hairstyle is rendered as a rounded mass traversed by broad bands and incisions. This attention to the hairstyle aligns with MAS observations on Songye statuary, where the hairstyle constitutes an important plastic element of the composition.

The whole is characterized by an intentionally angular, compact and architected aesthetic, which is one of the most recognizable traits of Songye sculpture.

Materials and technique

Carved wood, with a dark surface treatment.

The figure is carved from a single block of wood, including the body, legs, feet and circular base.

The scale is deliberately expressive: tool marks remain readable in certain parts and contribute to the sculpture’s visual power.

The dark, smooth surface treatment is compatible with oil treatments documented on some Songye sculptures. MAS Antwerp thus associates the deep dark brown glossy patina of a Songye figure with repeated applications of palm oil.

Symbolism

The oversized head, the accentuated abdomen and the large hands are the main symbolic foci of the sculpture.

In Songye culture, anthropomorphic statuary maintains close relationships with ancestors and with the forces that ensure protection, fertility and the community’s continuity. Museum collections, however, distinguish commemorative figures from mankishi, the latter gaining their power through substances and interventions of the nganga.

The gesture of the hands placed around the abdomen is particularly recurrent in Songye statuary. The Smithsonian explicitly describes it as a characteristic element of the great Songye figures.

Ritual function / usage

The chosen function is that of a commemorative figure linked to the ancestors, rather than that of a community nkishi activated by bishimba.

It is appropriate to distinguish the typology of the object from the precise use of this exemplar: museums emphasize that the function of a Songye figure cannot always be determined solely by its form.

For mankishi, however, Smithsonian and the Met indicate that the sculpture was activated by a ritual specialist (nganga) and could ensure protection, healing, fertility or defense of the community.

Cultural context

Songye statuary rests on a conception in which anthropomorphic sculpture can establish a relationship between the human world, the ancestors and the spiritual powers.

The great figures of power were made by a sculptor and then transformed into active objects by the ritual specialist. The Met describes this collaboration between the sculptor and the nganga as constitutive of mankishi.

The present sculpture is distinguished precisely by its formal spareness. It thus allows another dimension of Songye sculpture to be shown, less burdened with added ritual elements and more focused on the sculptural conception of the body.

Comparisons with museum pieces and documented collections

MAS – Museum aan de Stroom, Antwerp

Songye female figure with annulated neck, inv. AE.0744

This is the most interesting European comparison for this sculpture.

MAS regards this piece as one of the summits of its African collection. It combines a prominent head, a geometrized body, a worked neck, large bodily forms and a circular base. Above all, the museum emphasizes the absence of ritual cavities and additions intended to receive magical substances, which directs it toward identification as an ancestral figure rather than nkishi.

This functional analogy is particularly useful for the present exemplar.

Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, Paris

Protective nkishi statue, Songye, Kalebwe sub-group, inv. 70.2017.66.4

This sculpture is mainly useful for stylistic comparison. The museum notes the powerful, geometrized volumes, shoulders with sharply defined angles and cylindrical neck, as well as the highly architectural organization of the Songye body.

It also allows a clear differentiation of the present exemplar from a fully ritualized nkishi: the Quai Branly statue has an abdominal cavity intended for magical ingredients and numerous added elements, unlike the sculpture presented here.

British Museum, London

The British Museum holds several Songye wooden figures. A ritual figure / nkisi, inv. Af1949,46.492, features a standing male figure with geometric body treatment and a substantial base. The museum explicitly documents the term nkisi for Songye magico-ritual figures.

Another figure, inv. Af1908,0622.158, is attributed to the Songye and has a very pared-down anthropomorphic form.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The Met houses an imposing Songye nkishi, inv. 1978.409, from the Lomami region. The museum describes construction consisting of clearly individualized sections: head, torso, legs, prominent abdomen, tubular arms and feet integrated into a circular base.

This comparison is particularly relevant for the geometric construction of the body, even if the Met’s exemplar is much more loaded with ritual elements.

National Museum of African Art – Smithsonian, Washington

The Male Figure, inv. nmafa_86-4-1, constitutes a very close formal reference: large ovoid head, cylindrical neck, detached arms, hands placed on the abdomen, bent legs and large feet resting on a base. The museum describes this body organization as a characteristic of Songye statuary.

The Smithsonian also preserves a Female Figure, inv. nmafa_96-8-1, with hands on the belly, a large head and sculpted coiffure.

Brooklyn Museum, New York

Brooklyn Museum houses a significant collection of Songye sculptures, including a Power Figure (Nkishi), inv. 50.79, large in size, also presenting the principle of articulated arms and hands around the abdominal area.

Additional reference: Langston University

Langston University’s African Collection explicitly documents a Songye Male Ancestor Figure: large head, cylindrical neck, bent arms, large hands grasping the abdomen, bent legs, wide feet and a circular base. This description closely matches the structure of the sculpture presented here.

Bibliography / sources

• François Neyt, Songye: The Formidable Statuary of Central Africa, Prestel, Munich, 2009. This work is a major reference for the stylistic study of Songye statuary; it is cited by the Metropolitan Museum in the bibliography of its nkishi.
• Dunja Hersak, Songye Masks and Figure Sculpture, Ethnographica, London, 1985/1995. Cited in Met collections.
• Constantin Petridis, Art and Power in the Central African Savannah: Luba, Songye, Tshokwe, Luluwa, Cleveland Museum of Art, 2008.
• MAS – Museum aan de Stroom, Antwerp, Songye female figure with annulated neck, inv. AE.0744.
• Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, Protective nkishi statue, Songye, inv. 70.2017.66.4.
• British Museum, Songye figures, notably inv. Af1949,46.492 and Af1908,0622.158.
• Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nkishi (community power figure), Songye, inv. 1978.409.
• National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Male Figure, Songye, inv. nmafa_86-4-1.
• Brooklyn Museum, Power Figure (Nkishi), Songye, inv. 50.79.

The objects are sent with tracking number.
Delivery to France by Chronopost in 1 to 2 days. Delivery within the European Union by Chronopost International in 3 to 5 days. Delivery by Colissimo International for the rest of Europe and for the entire World.

We speak english.