Featured African Wooden Statues, help wanted!

Hi, I would really like to find out more information about these 3 statues! Anything at all would be amazing - authenticity, tribes, dates etc

This is all I know:

My grandad got them whilst working in the Cameroon’s in the 1960s/1970s.
Poison has been cut out of two of them so he could bring them back to the UK.

Two are roughly 20cm tall and one is around 40cm.

Thank you in advance!

 

@2manybooks
Poison ??

 

Good question..

 

That sounds plausible. My grandad passed a good while ago so I can’t ask anymore questions and these were locked away for over 20+ years!

Do you know what I can do in regards to authenticity? I did ask in a group somewhere else and someone said they look like tourist toys, but with the history my family know of them I have firm beliefs they are authentic. My grandad lived and worked in the Cameroon’s for over 40 years, and I’m doubting tourist toys having poison/poisonous substances added onto them.

thank you guys for any help!

 

None of the figures are in a typically Cameroonian style. I believe they all may be from the neighboring Congo region. I have seen the hat/hair and posture of the second figure in carvings by the Yombe people of Congo. The first figure looks like a depiction of a hunter. He may have had a spear in his upraised right hand, but I can't see what he holds in his left. You don't say, but it looks like the last figure may be the tallest one. It looks like he is one that had materials removed. He probably had a small container on his stomach that contained spiritually charged materials called nkisi (plural minkisi), a term which can also refer to the whole figure. I do not see evidence of materials having been removed from either of the other figures.

By the mid 20th century there was a well established trade in making such carvings for sale. Even replicas of minkisi have been made, as they are very popular with tourists and collectors. Without knowing the history of your specific carvings, I can't say if they were made for use in a Congo society. But I doubt it.

 

I really appreciate your answer @2manybooks !

here are a couple more photos. Number one is actually the tallest, and the staff is removable. Would sense he would have another for his other hand.

 

Number two and the cut out shaped box on his back.

 

Number three and close up of his belly.

 

I have since found out that statue 3 is an authentic Teke figure, with the bilongo (sp?) removed.

The big black one is more than likely a tourist one.

 

the staff may or may not be a Congo Adze...minus it's blade....

but...........

it also has attributes of Pacific adzes as well.........

 

I was just about to post that I thought the third figure might be Teke, based on the square beard, triangular nose and facial scarifications, as illustrated on this Teke figure:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/885824...tic-republic-of?ref=shop_home_active_80&frs=1

Bilongo is a term that refers to the powerful substances placed in an nkisi. The terminology is quite confusing. You see "nkisi" used to refer to such figures, to other types of containers, and to the "medicine"/bilongo enclosed. There are also different types of minkisi figures - nkondi "nail fetishes", for example, are described as more aggressive than other types of minkisi. Here is a good discussion of the tradition:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nkisi

Here is a hunter figure attributed to the Bakongo, which is described as "vintage 1960s": (This etsy listing also provides a good general discussion of Kongo art.)

https://www.etsy.com/listing/869585...gure-democratic?ref=shop_home_active_86&frs=1

Your hunter figure might have been made as a commemorative piece, but without a specific history of its use it is difficult to say if it (or any of the three) are "authentic" in the sense of being made for use within the original culture vs made for sale. Carvers could make the same type of carving for either purpose.

Of the three, I like the little second figure best. For some reason (maybe the lighting?) I could not "read" the recess on the back. Is there anything set into the eyes? I am also curious as to whether you think the figure is male or female. From the photos, I do not see any male "equipment", but I would expect the breasts to be more prominent if she(?) was meant as a typical Yombe "fertility" figure. Such figures usually include infants as well. Here is one, though, that is somewhat similar, attributed to the Yombe:

https://forafricanart.com/product/yombe-maternity-figure-2676/

 

The eyes look deep set, there could have very well been something in there, but I can’t see a sign on it.

As for sex, you can see from the side very small breasts.

thank you for your knowledge!!