African Arts Gallery

Vases Mangbetu (N° 18611)

Named 'generous' in African art, these pottery are intended to collect palm wine. These jars with globular bodies, equipped with handles, have cephalomorphic gullies arranged face to face. The faces are marked by subtle differences suggesting a couple. Oiled patina, black and smooth, abrasions.
asebli in the forest in northeastern Zaire, the Mangbetu kingdom has expressed itself through architectural works that impressed European visitors in the 19th century. Their furniture, weapons, adornments and statuary were imbued with a rare aesthetic quality. The Mangbetu story was based on the refinement of his court but also on cannibalistic customs. King Mangbetu Munza was so dubbed The cannibal king. The body lines on the characters, like those of the face, include the traditional paintings of the ethnic group, inspired by the tattoos of the nearby Asua pygmies, and which varied according to the circumstances. Indeed, among the Mangbetu from an early age, upper-class children suffered a compression of the cranial box, held tight by rapia ties. Later, the hair was 'knitted' on wicker strands and a headband would enser the forehead to bring out the hair and form this majestic headdress accentuating the elongation of the skull. The ancient names beli anthropomorphic figures embodying ancestors, stored out of sight, and comparable to those belonging to their secret society nebeli .br> The Mangbetu Kingdom in northern Congo produced architectural works that impressed European visitors in the 19th century. Their furniture, weapons, adornments and statuary were imbued with a rare aesthetic quality. The ethnologist G.A. Schweinfurth in 1870 described its symmetry and refinement, while at the same time testifying to the ritual killings and human sacrifices practiced by the people of elongated heads.