This stunning bicephalous ceramic vessel was made by artists in the Mangbetu tribe, which moved to the Congo region from Sudan about two hundred years ago, and are known for a complex and highly distinctive cultural metier that was based around a court system. They are particularly renowned for their musicians, which is – unusually – a professional career in Mangbetu society, and also for their extravagant dancing and ceremonial behaviour. Artistically, they are famous for their architecture and courtly arts, a range of objects made for – and at the behest of – the royal families of the region. These ranged from objects of religious and spiritual significance to everyday items decorated with significant and/or aesthetically-pleasing motifs and designs, which allow us a glimpse into Mangbetu society.
Mangbetu figures are both rare and highly recognisable due to the very light-coloured wood used to carve them, the high level of detail in dark relief, and the cone-shaped hairstyles that reflect a fashion utilised by women up until the 1950s. The unusually-shaped heads often seen on these carvings is not a sculptural whim; the Mangbetu often intentionally deformed the skulls of newborn children using the same harness arrangement utilised in Pre-Columbian America and Bronze-Age Europe.
Their material culture is intimately associated with the rigid kingship system. Kings were viewed as semi-divine, able to control natural resources such as water, and as such they had significant control over objects reflecting wealth such as the skin, tails, teeth, and claws of leopards. He controlled, from the 1850s, a mystical force known as nebeli which was originally used to lure animals into traps, but was eventually used to deceive enemies – specifically, the early messengers of colonial powers. Their refusal to buckle under Belgian administration – unlike most of their neighbours – had serious socioeconomic repercussions. There was, however, at least a modicum of artistic freedom, for while the early stages of Mangbetu artistic development are somewhat mysterious, by the time that the European hold on the area had solidified, the Mangbetu were in the habit of trading and exchanging prestige goods between chiefly courts and, eventually, to visiting Europeans.
The unique styling of Mangbetu skulls and hair found its way onto most of their cultural output, from harps to thrones, knives and – as in the current case – ceramics. The role of these pieces is uncertain. The Mangbetu creator god is named Noro (also Kilima), but there is little sculptural abstraction in Mangbetu art that hints at an aim beyond the representational, or the secular decorative. They may also represent ancestors, which the kings usually command be revered. It is possible that the decorations on such pieces are designed to repel the negative effects of ‘Likundu’ – evil spirits – or witchery, which is a major concern in Mangbetu society.
This piece is a highly-decorated pedestal-based vessel decorated with impressed and incised geometric motifs, with a single spout posteriorly. It is surmounted by a pair of dicephalous conjoined twins, which are known to occur in Africa considerable more frequently than any other part of the world (in part due to the higher prevalence of standard twinning rates, notably among the Yoruba). They have evidently reached adulthood, with fully-developed male genitalia and what might be intended to be female breasts. The two heads have very different hairstyles – th figure on the left has the typical conical style, while the other has a domed style more reminiscent of a “beehive”. Facial morphology is almost identical, although it is possible that the right is intended to be female and the other male. The figure is dressed in strapping that runs around both necks, down the stomach and back, and around the waist with strands hanging to the knees. It also has anklets and bracelets, made from the same dotted “textile”. Finally, the body has been scarred with diamond-shaped forms made up of about 49 (arranged in 7 lines of 7) of the same dots as decorate the textile strapping. These diamonds and triangles surround each eye, and are on each forehead, on the breasts, the stomach and the back/flanks. There is also a line of dots from each shoulder to the wrist.
It is certainly true that this piece is not a secular object, or at least not purely so. Standing almost three feet high, it seems unlikely that it could have reasonably been used for dispensing anything. That said, the air holes at the top of each figure and the main chamber (and thus the posterior spout on the vessel) are interconnected. It is of course possible that it was used to store some rare unguent for a ritual purpose – such as ancestor veneration – and if it received libations on its own account this may explain the dark patina it has acquired. Twins have a sacred status in the Yoruban group, while other groups – such as the Lobi – venerate conjoined twins. Both of these sentiments are visible in their art, and it seems likely that something of the sort is also happening here. The manner in which it has been conceived and executed suggests that it was a significant object in the eyes of the contemporary population, and that it held an important place in some religious or ritual context. It is also a beautiful piece of African art, and the deserved focus of any good collection.