SNK 1212-15

Yaka Female Mortar Figure, DR Congo

H: 30 cm (11,8″), W: 6,5 cm (2,6″), D: 6,5 cm (2,6″)

Yaka statues from Congo are usually small like this mortar which might have been used for the crushing of medicine. The Yaka tribe make a rich variety of small fetish figures used as medicine containers believed to have either a healing or destructive function. The figures are sometimes worn as charms around the neck.

The Yaka tribe of Western Congo has a rich artistic tradition, with their masks and statues used in various ceremonies such as celebration of birth, marriage or death of an important chief.

Provenance: Private Danish collection. It was either acquired directly from Lau (Laurence) Sunde’s collection in Copenhagen, which dates back to the 1940s, or Lau (Laurence) Sunde was an adviser to the collector.
Sunde had a “Etnografica” boutique in 1948, that became recognized among collectors as the most specialized boutique of its kind at the time. Tribal and oriental artefacts were purchased from private collectors as well as at auctions in Paris, Amsterdam and London, among other places.

Full description of Lau (Laurence) Sunde will be forwarded by request.

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