The pottery produced by the Mangbetu was classified as three types: the large pot (also known as Nembwo), the small pot, and sculpted and decorated pots. The Nembwo served general purposes, such as getting water from the lake and carrying vegetables. The smaller pots were used for more specific tasks such as cooking, cleaning, and pouring, and some were even used as toilets. The decorative pots were made more as a hobby.
The nembwo and small pot have a rather round conventional pot shape that is more spherical than most due to how it is constructed, and most are thin and smooth with a thicker opening. The decorated and sculpted pots of the Mangbetu tribe have human or animal figures (generally just heads) at the opening of the jar. Occasionally this sculpted figure is a Mangbetu woman with the traditional elongated head and decorative head dressing. The handles of these pots are sometimes moulded into an animal or human parts. The bottom of the pot is round, and occasionally patterns will be carved onto the surface. The pots are monochromatic and are made of coarse-textured clay which is either hand-built or made using variations of the “hammer-and-anvil” technique. They are usually a natural russet colour or dark grey (the decorative pots). The latter often have incised patterns on the surface in addition to the human or animal figures. The surfaces are textured using shell scrapers and wooden pattern-making tools and then the pots are fired in open bonfire
- Material: Clay
- Age: approximately 50-60 yrs
- Origin: Democratic Republic Of Congo
- Condition: Very good
- SKU: POT-016
- Weight: 1.5 kg
- Dimensions: 14 x 25 x 52 cm