Tribal Art

Figurative panel carved with symbolic naturalist motifs, aimed at protecting the chief's house. Represented naked, the female figure presents the half-closed female gaze, named "zanze". These statues were usually part of a fertility cult and were kept in a room in the chief's house.
Medium brown satin patina.
Desication cracks and abrasions.

The Western Pende live on the banks of the Kwilu, while the Eastern settled on the banks of the Kasaï downstream from Tshikapa. The influences of neighboring ethnic groups, Mbla, Suku, Wongo, Leele, Kuba and Salempasu imprinted on their large tribal art sculpture. Within this diversity, the Mbuya masks, realistic, produced every ten years, take on a festive function, and embody different characters, including the chief, the diviner and his wife, the prostitute, the possessed, etc... The masks of initiation and those of power, the minganji, represent the ancestors and occur successively during the same ceremonies, agricultural festivals, initiation and circumcision rituals mukanda, enthronement of the chief. Governed by heads of families, the djogo, with a priestly function, the Pende have sculptures intended to enter into contact with the ancestors, to whom sacrifices are offered. They are stored in a room or house adjoining that of the chief.