Lot 185: A Superb Hungaan or Pindi door

People: Hungaan or Pindi
DR Congo
H: 32"
A rare and fine example with raised stylized female image on a rough hewn panel. The whole pigmented in black and white; on a custom base. : Dr. Arthur P. Bourgeois, world expert on the Kwilu-Kwango region has written this about this example: The Hungaan people used carved panel doors on a thatched structure where a sick person was being treated. Doors such as this depicted in relief a kitekki, or charm figure, that was given a personal name and likely served an apotropaic and protective function. Similar doors have been collected among their Pindi and Mbala neighbors. The motif, however, is a highly conventionalized example of the "displayed female motif" in which a figure is shown with splayed bent legs, exposing the genital area. This is a fine rare and authentic example.
Exhibited: "Remnants of Ritual, Selections from the Gelbard Collection of African Art":
- University Park, IL: Governors State University, February 2003
- Krannert, IL: Krannert Art Museum, 26 August-26 October, 2003
- Kansas City, MO: Belger Art Foundation/University of Missouri-
Kansas City, 2004
- Park Forest, IL: Tall Grass Art Association, 2005

Publication History: Remnants of Ritual, Selections from the Gelbard Collection of African Art, edited by Arthur Bourgeois and Scott Rodolitz, New York: Ethnos, 2003: Pg. 34, Fig.76.

Provenance:
The Gelbard collection, NY

Price Realized: $9,000

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