Ambete

The Ambete are also called Mbete and Mbede in African art

The Ambete peoples are located on the border of Middle Congo and Gabon, east of the Obamba. African Mbete statues have a rectangular dorsal cavity, or the body has the shape of a relic chest. In general, the head alone is in the round, the arms and lower limbs being only sketched. There are also simple heads and busts that seem to have an emblematic or prophylactic function.

The treatment of the face is characteristic: a full forehead, straight brow ridges, a flat recessed face, slit eyes, a straight nose, a rectangular mouth. Shoulders are thrown forward, arms slightly bent.

The Mbete artistic corpus is restricted and stylistically approaches the traditional art of the north-west of the D.R. Congo.