African Arts Gallery

Initiatory rituals and tribal art Ngbaka.
Offering a rounded volume, this mask has discreet lines in low relief. The face is marked with many linear patterns composed of a succession of small checkerboards. The smooth, satiny surface has been rubbed with light clay, encrustations of which remain around the eyes. Small crashes.
Tribe settled on the left bank of the Ubangui, the Ngbaka practice agriculture, and their artistic achievements were inspired by those of the neighboring tribes Ngbandi and Ngombe , with a distinctive feature however, the line of the forehead dotted with linear keloids. They are organized in tribes without political unity, under the tutelage of the chief wan and worship a god named Gale through the worship rendered to the spirits of nature. Young people are prepared for adult life through rituals called " gaza" and trained by ancient initiates, the bugaza. Their statues usually represent the primordial ancestors Setu and his sister Nabo and are placed on altars for propitiatory rites.