Superb wooden statue, with scarifications typical of the Mangbetu ethnic group of the Democratic Republic of Congo

Height: 71 cm

Mangbetu art

Mangbetu art is a court art and all the statues were created to be displayed during ceremonies led by the king or members of his family who received in an impressive large hall more than fifty meters wide.

Mangbetu statues

Mangbetu artists sculpted statues symbolizing ancestors, about 60 cm high, particularly recognizable by their typical scarifications that cover the entire body and their beautiful shiny patina.

We also find other physical characteristics of the Mangbetu, particularly the tradition of compressing the heads of children with raffia fibers in order to give them an elongated skull, an elongation represented on the statue by a high hairstyle.

Another characteristic of Mangbetu statues: "Everything concerning the genitals is highlighted and the erect penis, far from any eroticism, is the constitutive element of the lineage to which the individual belongs" (Extract from Understanding African Art)