Figure of the Chokwe ethnic group. Angola, circa. 1880

Figure of the Chokwe ethnic group. Angola, circa. 1880.
Wood and pigments.
Provenance: Collection of Maria de Conceicao Cardoso Botelho of Lisbon, Portugal. Fernando Moncada, Lisbon, Portugal.
Without restorations.
Measurements: 48 cm (height).

Sculpture school of Mozamba, northeastern Angola. It comes from the collection of Maria de Conceicao Cardoso Botelho of Lisbon, Portugal. It was acquired by Fernando Moncada on June 23, 2004 according to a handwritten invoice on the back of Fernandos gallery business card "Fernando Moncada Tribal Arte" for his company Viragem LTD. Most of the works by Americo Cardoso Botelho (author of Holocausto em Angola: Memorias de entre o carcere e o cemiterio) were sold at Sotheby's in the late 2000s.

It is a male Chokwe figure dating from about the last quarter of the 19th century, probably from the Mozamba school of sculpture in northeastern Angola. From the style of the face, there are many other sculptures by the same hand, who made mostly staffs and scepters.