Anthropomorphic Mangbetu Pottery African Terracotta - Congo.

Height: 39 cm.

Anthropomorphic pottery - Mangbetu - Congo. In Congo, as in many other African countries, women are the potters. The men are responsible for digging and transporting the clay. The rest is done by the women. The clay mixed with sand is kneaded underfoot. The technique used for making the pots is called 'colombin'. The potter stacks the argilnebels and smooths them with a spatula, a piece of calebasse. The outer walls, still moist, are decorated with motifs using a small jon knot. The pots are dried for about a week, sometimes in the shade, sometimes in the sun. The baking takes place the evening before the market. First, dried herbs are burned inside the pots to prevent excessive temperature difference between the inside and outside. The pots are stacked on a bed of branches, stones, and old pots. They are covered with dry herbs. The baking process takes one to two hours. The potter removes each pot from the hearth with a long stick and sprays it with water mixed with ash. The pots are taken to the market the next day to be sold or bartered.The Mangbetu are a Central African people living in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

This character excellently illustrates a Mangbetu art dedicated to the glorification of beauty. In the first quarter of the 20th century, some artists - in the village of Niangara and at the court of King Okondo - started the tradition of anthropomorphic ceramics, which developed itself into one of the most sensitive art expressions of Mangbetu.