Tribal Art

Collection of Belgian African art.

This African mask Ngbaka offers a curved structure curved at eye level. The discreet features are highlighted with linear scarifications. Thick abraded patina, erosions.
A tribe settled on the left bank of the Ubangui, the Ngbaka practice agriculture, and their artistic achievements were inspired by those of the neighboring Ngbandi and Ngombe tribes , with a distinctive feature however, the forehead line dotted with linear keloids. They are organized into tribes without political unity, under the supervision of the chief wan and worship a god named Gale through the cult rendered to the spirits of nature. Their statues generally represent the primordial ancestors Setu and his sister Nabo and are installed on altars for propitiatory rites. The Ngbaka also produced musical instruments which punctuated the closing ceremonies of initiation and circumcision.