Mangbetu Beli ancestor couple
Mangbetu: court art of Uele
I offer you here a superb pair of African statues of the Mangbetu ethnic group in the north of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The female statue wears a flared headdress at the top, characteristic of the Mangbetu, called a tumburu. It was worn only by women of high rank and was held, as seen in the attached photos, by finely carved ivory pins of which I offer you a very old copy below.
On the bodies and faces, there are body paintings as well as scarifications near the eyes. The Mangbetu painted their bodies for aesthetic purposes. These motifs were invested with special meanings depending on the circumstances for which they were performed.
The head of the male figure is topped with a characteristic hairstyle that highlights the deformation of the skull. This deformation was obtained by wrapping bands around the skulls of young children as long as the fontanelles were not yet welded. Just like the famous statue couple from the Émile Deletaille collection visible in the attached photo, the couple I am presenting to you is undoubtedly from the Niangara region on the banks of the Uele. The ancients name these statues by the generic term beli. According to them, such statues were used in the hidden places of the nebeli secret society. The testimonies concerning the rites of the nebeli are rare but confirm the existence of statues of spirits or ancestors preserved in secret places.
In African art, the Mangbetu ethnic group marked the first travelers with the complexity of its political institutions, its architecture and its artistic production.
A small restoration took place on the right forearm of the female statue.
This pair of statues was acquired by the African art collector and Belgian painter and sculptor François Charles Bazelaire, who died in March 2021, see photo.
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Data sheet
- Presumed dating
- Mid XXth century
- Size
- 69 cm
- Ethnic group
- Material(s)
- Wood
- Country
- Origin
- François C. Bazelaire, painter and sculptor, Bruxelles
- Condition
- Excellent
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Mangbetu: court art of Uele
I offer you here a superb pair of African statues of the Mangbetu ethnic group in the north of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The female statue wears a flared headdress at the top, characteristic of the Mangbetu, called a tumburu. It was worn only by women of high rank and was held, as seen in the attached photos, by finely carved ivory pins of which I offer you a very old copy below.
On the bodies and faces, there are body paintings as well as scarifications near the eyes. The Mangbetu painted their bodies for aesthetic purposes. These motifs were invested with special meanings depending on the circumstances for which they were performed.
The head of the male figure is topped with a characteristic hairstyle that highlights the deformation of the skull. This deformation was obtained by wrapping bands around the skulls of young children as long as the fontanelles were not yet welded. Just like the famous statue couple from the Émile Deletaille collection visible in the attached photo, the couple I am presenting to you is undoubtedly from the Niangara region on the banks of the Uele. The ancients name these statues by the generic term beli. According to them, such statues were used in the hidden places of the nebeli secret society. The testimonies concerning the rites of the nebeli are rare but confirm the existence of statues of spirits or ancestors preserved in secret places.
In African art, the Mangbetu ethnic group marked the first travelers with the complexity of its political institutions, its architecture and its artistic production.
A small restoration took place on the right forearm of the female statue.
This pair of statues was acquired by the African art collector and Belgian painter and sculptor François Charles Bazelaire, who died in March 2021, see photo.