Rare Mangbetu Standing Couple, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Wood, pokerwork
Heights 17 3/4 and 18in (45 and 45.5cm)

Provenance
Collected by an Belgium officer in 1907
Ch. Aubrechts Collection, Lasne
Damien Reeners Collection, Brussels
Aguttes, Paris, 20 November 2009, Lot 299
Private Princely Collection

Literature
Beaulieux, Dick, Belgium Collects African Art, Arts and Applications, Brussels, 2000, p. 291

Mangbetu figurative sculpture of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries portray the idealized beauty of the Mangbetu. They appear to have been carved for the appreciation of chiefs and other elite individuals, often with names carved on them, as with the female presented here.

Each with naturalistic facial features, muscular legs, arms and hands resting on the stomach, large necks and squared shoulders; the male with a conical hat and appearing to wear western clothes; the female with a distinctive elaborate Mangbetu coiffure, enhanced buttocks and pointed breasts; 'ZOWAI' incised on the underside of her right foot, 'ISSAVI' on the underside of her left; fine light brown patina.

Overall wear consistent with age; right foot of male figure broken and repaired; small loss to top of male's head and to left pinky toe; chips to female's left ear and small dent to her chin; minor nicks, scratches and abrasions to surfaces.