Tribal Art

Mangbetu African tribal art, a prestigious art, was intended for the elite of society, such as this solid seat whose back features a bust. The seat is covered with animal skin, lustrous by use, the contours trimmed with upholstery nails. Minor cracks and erosions.
Established in the forest in the northeast of Zaire, the Mangbetu kingdom expressed itself through architectural works that impressed European visitors in the 19th century. Their furniture, weapons, ornaments and statuary were imbued with a rare aesthetic quality. The Mangbetu story was indeed based on the refinement of his court but also on cannibalistic customs. King Mangbetu "Munza" was thus nicknamed "the cannibal king". The ethnologist G.A. Schweinfurth in 1870 described its refinement, while at the same time testifying to the ritual murders and human sacrifices practiced by "the people of the elongated heads", to indicate this characteristic deformation of the cranial box obtained from a compression , from the youngest age.