The Lion of Chaeronea

Carved wooden figure (nzambi) of the Holo people, present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo or Angola.  Artist unknown; late 19th or early 20th century.  Now in the Brooklyn Museum.  Photo credit: Brooklyn Museum.

Mwana pwo mask of the Tchokwe people, Angola.  Artist unknown; 20th century.  Now in the Museu Afro Brasil, São Paulo.  Photo credit: Sailko/Wikimedia Commons.

Wooden statuette of the Tshokwe (Chokwe) people, Angola.  Now in the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.  Photo credit: Sailko/Wikimedia Commons.

Wooden mask of a young woman (mwana pwo) of the Chokwe people, Bachon region, Angola.  Artist unknown; 19th century.  Now in the Brooklyn Museum.  Photo credit: Brooklyn Museum.  

Mask (ndunga) of the Woyo people, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola.  Now in the Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium.

Wooden sculpture from the Chokwe people of Angola, representing Chibinda Ilunga, an ancestral folk hero of the Chokwe.  Artist unknown; ca. 1850.  Now in the Museum Rietberg, Zurich.

Ndunga mask of the Woyo people, Kingdom of Ngoyo (in the present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola).  This type of mask, distinguished by its painted stripes and triangular chin, would have been worn by a member of the male society known as ndunga at funerals and other ceremonies.  Now in the Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium.

Maternity figure of the Kongo people, Democratic Republic of the Congo or Angola.  Artist unknown; 19th century.  Now in the Honolulu Museum of Art,

Ndunga mask of the Woyo people, Kingdom of Ngoyo (in present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola).  Artist unknown.  Now in the Musée royal de l'Afrique centrale, Tervuren, Belgium.  Photo credit: Ji-Elle/Wikimedia Commons.