African Arts Gallery

Pende statue (N° 21171)

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Female figure carved in a naturalistic style, endowed with the famous half-closed female gaze, named "zanze". Depicted naked, hands on her chest, she adopts a concentrated expression. These statues were generally part of a fertility cult and were kept in a room in the chief's house.
Satin medium brown patina. The Western Pende live on the banks of the Kwilu, while the Eastern have settled on the banks of the Kasai downstream from Tshikapa. The influences of the neighboring ethnic groups, Mbla, Suku, Wongo, Leele, Kuba, and Salempasu have been imprinted on their extensive tribal art sculpture. Within this diversity the realistic Mbuya masks, produced every ten years, have a festive function, and embody different characters, including the chief, the diviner and his wife, the prostitute, the possessed, etc.... As for the initiation masks and those of power, the minganji, they represent the ancestors and occur successively during the same ceremonies, agricultural festivals, initiation and circumcision rituals mukanda, enthronement of the chief. Governed by family chiefs, the djogo, with a priestly function, the Pende have sculptures intended to make contact with the ancestors, to whom sacrifices are offered. They are stored in a room or house adjoining that of the chief.