Tribal Art

African court art Mangbetu and statues of ancestors
Figure to the head port magnified by the long colored curls, she adopts an unusual posture, kneeling, a hand placed on her headdress. The back of the room is fitted with a perforated washer so that it can be carried. Abraded red brown patina. The geometric patterns on this naturalistic male figure evoke the body paintings and tribal scarifications of the Mangbetu, similar to those of the Asua pygmies with whom the tribe had relations. The latter varied depending on the circumstances. The fan hairstyle was sported by the Mangbetu: from an early age, the children were compressed from the cranial box by means of raffia bonds. Later, the Mangbetu \