Description : Important Mangbetu Figure Democratic Republic of the Congo H: 93 cm (approx. 3’ 1”) Estimated age: 19th century or earlier Published: “Mangbetu: Art des cour africain de collections privées belges”, p. 61, No. 16 Provenance: Formerly part of the Lauwers Collection, USA, Belgian private collection The Mangbetu live in the northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Most Mangbetu art was reserved for the ruling class and was secular in nature. Wooden figures are believed to be ancestral portraits. Harps and trumpets that were used by court musicians were often adorned with sculpted human heads. Decorated thrones and knives were also part of the royal regalia. Until very recently, the Mangbetu were one of a small number of Congolese peoples who paid death compensations. A person who died was considered to have done so “in the hands of” his father’s family group. This meant that the father’s group had to compensate the mother’s group, regardless of the circumstances of death. Their traditional belief system includes a complex of ideas about witchcraft and sorcery. One such idea is that the power of witchcraft resides in an appendage of the small intestine, which girls inherit from their mother and boys from their father. The head of this female Mangbetu statuette is surrounded by a round-shaped, very sophisticated and elaborate headdress or coiffure, which is very characteristic of Mangbetu women. The face and body are adorned with scarifications. Mangbetu women regularly painted their bodies with precise geometric lines and motifs, which carried a particular significance according to the contexts in which they were worn.
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