At the start of the Nineteenth Century AD, the Mangbetu were only one tribe among a large number of Kingbetu-speaking peoples living in the northeastern corner of what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The leader of the Mangbetu at this time, Nabiembali, was an energetic and experienced leader who gathered a following of warriors and moved north across the Bomokandi river to subdue his neighbours, the Mangbele and Mabisanga. The Mangbetu Kingdom grew from this base, and across the course of the middle part of the Nineteenth Century AD, their confederation grew to encompass the Madi, Bangba, Mayogo, Mayvu, Makango, and Barambo peoples, incorporating non-Kingbetu-speaking peoples under Mangbetu rule for the first time. Through a complex process of exchanging women between unrelated groups, the Mangbetu secured control over the many ethnic groups that were represented among their subjects. When the Mangbetu came into contact with the Belgian colonists, the Europeans were caught between a grudging respect for their centralised territorial Kingdom, and a racist fascination with ethnological differences. One practice which the Europeans never got to grips with was lipombo, artificial cranial deformation of infants which resulted in an elongated skull during adulthood. Small babies had their heads bound firmly with linen bandages before the cranial plates fused, thus forcing the back of the skull to grow upwards. Originating as a status-symbol among the Mangbetu elite, this practice eventually shaped the common ideals of beauty among the peoples of the northeastern Congo. This tradition survived until the middle of the Twentieth Century AD, when it was outlawed by the colonial Belgian government.

By the time that the first Europeans made contact with the Mangbetu, in the guise of German botanist Georg Schweinfurth who arrived in the northern Congo in AD 1870, the centralised Mangbetu state was well-developed, and had enabled the formation of a large and well-functioning elite, who had the leisure time to enjoy art and music. The desire for Mangbetu ‘aristocrats’ to furnish their homes with fine wares not available to the average Mangbetu promoted a kind of explosion in the arts from the mid-Nineteenth Century AD. Court dances, royal architecture, highly developed musical compositions, and skilled artisanship, resulted in a wide interest in Mangbetu life in Continental Europe, and there was something of an appetite for photographs and relics from this part of the Congo. Of special interest were the elaborate hairstyles of the Mangbetu elite, designed to accentuate the elongation of the skull. These coiffures were reflected both in the masks worn by the Mangbetu, and the arts voraciously consumed by the elite. Perhaps the most distinctive of these arts were the ceramics.

Mangbetu pottery takes a wide variety of forms. The nembwo was a large pot used for transporting water from the rivers for cooking or washing, designed to be carried under the arm since the Mangbetu habit of cranial deformation prohibited women from carrying water jars on their heads as in other parts of Africa. These pots were made by the coil method, and fired over an open fire. Incised patterns and depressions were then added to the surface of the vessel for decoration. For the Mangbetu, ceramics are an exclusively female artform, and all women know how to make the nembwo, and other similar day-to-day pots. However, certain women were considered experts in this field, and were tasked with making more elaborate pottery to satiate the needs of the elite. The most recognisable of these pots were the anthropomorphic effigy jars. These were commonly produced in the area around Niangara, a town on the Uele River, down which the vessels would be transported. Here, at a kind of crossroads of trade routes, there was a great deal of interethnic contact which bred imaginative ceramic forms. Mangbetu anthropomorphic effigy vessels were almost exclusively jars with a round body, tall neck, and a handle. These vessels were usually drinking vessels, with openings through which straws could be placed.

This effigy vessel is of a slightly unusual type. Whereas most Mangbetu effigy vessels depict only the head of a human, emerging from the round bulbous body of the pot, this vessel depicts a whole human body, that of a man who sits cross-legged with a hand under his chin. His elongated cranium and elaborate disc coiffure identify him as a member of the elite, perhaps even a Mangbetu King, who was perhaps being commemorated through this vessel. His face is highly expressive, with high-arching eyebrows and a serene smile. Further markers of his nobility are the scarifications on his cheeks and beard-line, and the collars of beads around his neck and wrists. The coffee-bean eyes are a usual indication of ancestors in African art, mimicking the mostly-closed eyes of the recently deceased. The body of the vessel is further decorated with incisions and a black pigment, made from the soot of the open fire in which it was cured. The use of Uele River mud results in a smooth, mottled appearance, and a lightweight but strong structure – hallmarks of quality in Mangbetu pottery.