northern Democratic Republic of Congo; male torso with stern faces on either side of the head, originally made to be dressed with cloth and charms; light brown fruitwood, 17 1/2 in. H.

There is some termite damage on the head. No cloth or charms remain. ------------------------------------- Additional comments, August 8, 2014: The piece comes to us from a private consignor who is preparing to move and downsizing. The cultural attribution was made by the cataloger, who has considerable experience handling African art. This particular item does not fit neatly into the standard iconographies. The attribution was based on the rendering of the eyes and mouth. The figure clearly has age and appears to have once had considerable extra decoration. Those missing parts might have given a surer identification.