This refined anthropomorphic vessel was made by the Mangbetu tribe of what was once Zaire. It is essentially a globular vessel which is acting as a seat for a tall human male figure, his hands resting on his knees. The ceramic is a burnished dark brown in colour. The vessel is decorated with segmented sections of banding (resembling brickwork) and crosshatching. There is a short spout projecting anteriorly, to which is attached a handle that stretches backwards and attached itself to the figure’s belt. The figure is seated upright with a straight back, naked apart from an ornate ruffed collar and a series of bracelets. The stomach is protuberant, perhaps indicating high status, and the neck is thick and columnar. The head is dominated by a large, plunger-shaped hairstyle that is typical of this group, surmounting a grinning face that is very schematically rendered with coffee-bean-like eyes, a sharp nose and exposed teeth. It is extensively decorated with linear scarifications; the textures of both hair and scars are rendered as hatched, dashed and incised lines.

The Mangbetu tribe 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. 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.

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. Their arts are somewhat inscrutable in the earlier phases, followed by a proliferation of production in the early years of the colonial administrations. 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.

Mangbetu figures are highly recognisable due to 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. The role of these pieces is uncertain. The Mangbetu creator god is named Noro (or 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 striking piece would be an attractive addition to any good collection of African art.