This unusual vessel depicting an anteater has
been attributed to the Mangbetu group.
Zoomorphic vessels are more uncommon than
anthropomorphic variants, and anteaters are
especially unusual. The vessel is the same shape
as the animal’s body, with apertures to facilitate
filling and/or pouring. The face is elongated with
a wide nose and raised almond eyes. The claws
are long and well-rendered. There is no specific
data about the significance of anteaters in
Mangbetu art, but the practical yet highly
decorated nature of the piece indicates that it
was neither solely an everyday nor ritual item.
The whole piece has a dull glossy patina from
age and usage.
The Mangbetu moved to the Congo region from
Sudan in the 1700s, and live in societies that
revolve around a court system. They are
particularly renowned for their professional
musicians, and also for their extravagant dancing
and ceremonial pageantry. Their artworks were
produced for the royal court families, and ranged
from architecture to objects of religious/spiritual
significance and secular items decorated with
pleasing motifs and designs.
Mangbetu art is perhaps most recognizable for
the inverted-cone coiffures of the (usually
female) figures that tend to adorn it. This is seen
in the rare wooden figures, as well as in
ceramics. The coiffure – exaggerated by cranial
deformation during infancy – was worn by
women until the 1950s. Most of the pieces found
their way to the royal courts. Kings were
originally believed to be semi-divine, able to
control natural resources using magical objects
such as leopard parts. Mangbetu resistance to
European rule had serious socioeconomic
repercussions, but by the time that the European
hold on the area had solidified, the Mangbetu
were in the habit of trading and exchanging
prestige goods – notably ornate ceramics –
between chiefly courts and to colonials.
The role of these pieces is uncertain. The
Mangbetu creator god is named Noro (also
Kilima), but there is little sculptural abstraction in
Mangbetu art that hints at an aim beyond the
representational, or the secular decorative. They
may also represent ancestors, which the kings
usually command be revered. It is possible that
the decorations on such pieces are designed to
repel the negative effects of ‘Likundu’ – evil
spirits – or witchery, which is a major concern in
Mangbetu society.
It is certainly true that this piece is not a secular
object, or at least not purely so. The care with
which it has been conceived and executed
suggests that it was a significant object in the
eyes of the contemporary population, and that it
held an important place in some religious or
ritual context.
This is an attractive piece of African art.
