Polychrome kebe-kebe dance marotte, attributed to a Kuyu master sculptor

Africa. Kuyu, Democratic Republic of Congo
A beautiful old polychrome Kébé-Kébé dance marotte, richly adorned and scarified, with a headdress pierced by a multitude of holes that once held feathers and long fibers, and here supported by a removable handle, an old indigenous restoration testifying to the importance that was given to this sculpture so that it could continue to work. In the hand of a master sculptor (or one of his disciples), the treatment of the face, its rich ornamentation and in particular two points in relief, scarifications on the nape of the neck, are the signature, probably not of a single master sculptor, but of a style or workshop that generated the most prestigious corpus of Kuyu art, the most famous examples of which were collected by the former administrator of the colonies in Middle Congo, and prolific collector of works: Aristide Courtois. Cf. Tribal Art Magazine XXI, num. 83 Spring 2017, "La découverte différée des objets Kuyu" by A. M. Bénézech, pp. 92-107. Wood, kaolin, traditional polychromy, very fine patina, minor accidents, wear and age-related cracks.
H. 26.5 cm without handle and 56 cm with handle.