CHOKWE, CONGO
WOOD,PAINT HEIGHT 65CM
The Chokwe have lived in the southern part of the Republik of Congo around the Congo river delta, the northern areas of Angola and inland down to Zambia for many generations. At one stage they established a very powerful kingdom and were the first African people to set up formal contacts with Europeans, the Portuguese sea farers and later Portuguese traders. From the 19th century onwards, simpler style figures were carved and probably traded with the Portuguese. Like so many objects in my collection, this figure was originally collected by Nji Idriss Mbombo in the late 1950’s.