Yaka Headrest Congo

The present-day Yaka number is approximately 300,000 and live along the Kwango River in the SW Democratic Republic of the Congo. Their neighbors are the Kongo, Teke, Zombo, Nkanu, Suku, Pindi, Mbala, Hugann, Holo, Chokwe, and so forth. They have a highly developed artistic sense---and they instill beauty and drama in even mundane objects. They are best known for the upturned noses found on initiation masks and diviner's fetishes, but their art can be abstract and vague as well. They sometimes create statues of considerable proportions. Though these normally are used by diviners and fall in the power figures or "fetish" category (M'bwoolo), the Yaka also carve large ancestor figures placed in the family shrines.

There are many wonderful Yaka artworks pictured in scholarly texts and their masks and figures grace the finest museums and private collections.

The Yaka people residing in the southwestern Democratic Republic of the Congo crafted figurative sculptures known as biteki. These sculptures possessed special properties when activated by a diviner or ritual specialist, as they contained hidden materials within their body cavities. The remaining plant fibers on the top of the coiffure and the small round holes on the figure's back and between its buttocks provide a glimpse of these concealed elements.

Yaka scholar Arthur Bourgeois suggests that the carving of a biteki sometimes directly represents the physical ailments experienced by a patient seeking its ritualistic powers. In the present piece, it appears that an unfortunate Yaka individual sought relief from a swollen abdomen.

From a sculptural perspective, the figure's rounded torso finds support in its two large and stabilizing feet, along with powerfully rendered legs flexed at the knees, creating a sense of tension. The hands of the figure, merged into a single concave panel, are clasped just below the long cylindrical neck. While not portraying a specific individual, the facial features and coiffure exhibit simplicity and exquisite craftsmanship. The combination of the slightly upturned nose, a characteristic form in Yaka sculptural tradition, and the downcast eyes deeply set into the facial plane impart a solemn and introspective expression to the figure as if it is preparing for a spiritual journey with contemplation.