Tribal Art

The Zande mainly carved two types of statues, the Kudu, between 30 and 50 cm high represent ancestors, and the Yanda statues of 10 to 20 cm, animal or human form, having an apotropaic role, exhibited during divinatory rites during the rituals of the Mani society. This female figure, with arched, muscular arms, offers a tubular, reduced torso and stocky, spread-out lower limbs. The face is characteristic of statues of ancestors not belonging to the categories mentioned above, and appearing in pairs. Brown patina, localized granular aggregates. Desiccation cracks. Formerly known as "Niam-Niam" because they were considered to be anthropophagous, the tribes grouped under the name of Zande, Azandé, settled from Chad on the border of the DRC (Zaire), Sudan and the Central African Republic. According to their beliefs, man is endowed with two souls, one of which transforms into the animal-totem of the clan to which he belongs upon his death. The name of their ethnic group means: "those who possess much land", an allusion to their warrior past originating in Sudan. The Yanda statuettes were displayed during divinatory sessions in which the chief of the society would coat them with paste and blow smoke on them. The Zande on the other hand used poison oracles in many circumstances, and had a secret language.