The iconography "Pakalala symbolizes the expectation of a mambu (trial or fight) and the impatience to attack" (Fu-Kiau quoted by Thompson in Geste Kôngo, 2002, p. 74). Standing, torso slightly bent, arms along the torso, face raised and gaze straight, the character adopts one of the most aggressive poses of a gesture whose language is inseparable from the beliefs and knowledge that structure Kongo thought. To the strength expressed by the attitude responds the great sensitivity of the sculpture, and in particular of the face, translating the ideal of Kongo beauty with here a strong artistic identity: fleshy mouth very finely modeled, slightly aquiline nose with dilated wings, filed teeth according to the Yombe tradition, hatched eyebrows, ears with detailed pavilion. To the sculptural singularity of this work very well identified by Frans Olbrecht in the small sketch he made of this work in 1937 is added its prestigious history known from the beginning of the century.