African Fine Arts - Ceremonial Carvings - Sundi Commemorative Statue from Congo

In Kongo culture, figurative sculptures define and reinforce the threshold between the worlds of the living and the dead. The meditative stance of this idealized image of a leader, reflects simultaneously upon his destiny in the other world and his ongoing responsibilities to the living. The figure's chiefly identity is revealed through both the distinctive posture and the signs of rank that include a hat, filed teeth and scarification patterns.