Janus Figure
African Art

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Janus Figure
Artwork Details
Artist/Maker
Songye Artist, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Date
Late nineteenth–early twentieth century
Medium
Ivory
Accession #
2002.298
Dimensions
Please contact the Museum for more information.
Location
Currently Not on View
Description
This ivory sculpture, now fragmentary—with two figures facing in opposite directions—likely once served as the central support of a neck rest, similar in form to the wood neck rest carved by the Master of Beneki, also in the High Museum’s collection and pictured on this website (2002.309). While neck rests made of wood are relatively common throughout Africa, those made of ivory are extremely rare and associated with great prestige.