Encountering a major Songye sculpture is a breathtaking experience: directed spiritual forces, harnessed from magical substances, are balanced with delicate sculptural refinement, conveying ferocious power and meditative wisdom. Standing nearly beyond a meter high, the Songye Power Figure from the Eric Edwards Collection is one of the finest works in this celebrated corpus and is particularly remarkable for its exceptionally fine sculptural quality, excellent state of preservation, and grand scale. Like the sophisticated expressions seen in Hemba and Luba art traditions, the being represented bears a large, domed forehead above heavily-lidded elliptical eyes, in the majestic poise of a wise and enduring leader, with its pointed crown reaching for the sky. The original spiritual practitioners who created and called upon this figure adorned it with spiritually-charged materials from the natural world, which activated and expanded its powers! (encased in its abdomen). The resulting ensemble exudes fierce and protective energy, evoking both fear and reverence in the viewer. The monumental scale and great artistic quality of the present figure suggest that it once served as an important community guardian.
Early 19th Century
Congo