143 graph from the Musée de l’Homme showing the piece in profi le (fi g. 6). That gave rise to nagging doubts. In the photograph, a more reliable documentary source than a drawing, the fi ber skirt was open to reveal legs planted on cursorily sculpted feet. Further and detailed examination of Sillans’ sketch confi rmed the presence of this unusual base, which was not part of the “longnecked” mbumba I was working on. However, thanks to these frontal and profi le images of the object in question, I now had enough hard information on the piece to warrant a more detailed FIG. 4 (left): Drawing of the mbumba donated to the Musée du Trocadéro by Msgr. André Raponda-Walker in 1934. From Raponda-Walker and Pierre Sillans, 1962: 69. FIG. 5 (right): Front view of the rediscovered mbumba. Tsogho, central southern Gabon. Wood, copper. H: 40 cm. Ex coll Msgr. André Raponda-Walker. © Hughes Dubois, reproduced by permission of Galerie Bernard Dulon. investigation. I contacted my initial informant for source information, but surprisingly this opened a perplexing abyss accompanied by the prospect of an international legal investigation. In answer to my ambiguous question about the origin of the statue, he directed me neither to the Chaillu Mountains nor the Ngounié River, but instead toward Belgium. It would be too time consuming to go into a detailed account of all the phone calls, correspondence, and other methods, which made me feel like Philip Marlowe (or perhaps, more aptly, Hercule Poirot), but it all ultimately led me to the long-sought object (fi gs. 5 and 7). Like in the best detective novels—and with the invaluable help of Belgian attorney Yves-Bernard De-
T81E
To see the actual publication please follow the link above