ClassificationsAfrican Art

Anthropomorphic Vessel

Place CreatedDemocratic Republic of the Congo, Africa

CultureMangbetu

Dateafter 1912

MediumCeramic

Credit LineGift of William S. Arnett

Dimensions7 15/16 x 5 15/16 in. (20.2 x 15.1 cm)

Object number1994.003.019

Label TextVessels of this type were created between ca. 1900 and 1930 as a response to the patronage of the Mangbetu royal court and Western explorers. They were first commissioned by Mangbetu chiefs and then by the American Museum of Natural History's Congo Expedition of 1909-1914, which provided additional stimulus to production through its collection program. The court favored the figurative style as a marker of prestige and social status, while the finely wrought facial features appealed to the taste of early twentieth century Westerners.

The vessel depicts body adornment fashions favored by elite Mangbetu women at the turn of the twentieth century. At the time, elongated foreheads were considered highly attractive and to achieve this look royal women wrapped their heads with rope and wove their hair into a conical basket structure. A generalized form of body tattooing appears as incised patterns on the face and rounded chamber of the vessel. The protrusions on the vessel's neck replicate the appearance of animal teeth necklaces that served as markers of status and protection.

By the 1920s, after Mangbetu body adornment fashions had changed and the production of this type of vessel was on the wane, this feminine image took on new meanings. For example, its depiction on national postage stamps turned it into a symbol of Zaire. It also circulated globally, both as a representation of Africa and as a source of artistic inspiration for Art Deco jewelry, Harlem Renaissance paintings, and most recently, the ceramic sculptures of transnational artist Magdalene Odundo.
Exhibition HistoryMCCM Permanent Collection Installation, May 11, 1993 - July 1994
Five Continents - Five Millennia, Hartsfield International Airport, Terminal E, March - November 1995
MCCM Permanent Collection Installation, Rotation 1, December 15, 1995 - February 1997
MCCM Permanent Collection Installation, Rotation 2, February 1997 - July 1998
MCCM Permanent Collection Installation, Rotation 3, September 26, 1998 - Spring 2003
Spirited Vessels: Creation and Ritual in African Ceramics, Michael C. Carlos Museum, February 7 - April 11, 2004
MCCM Permanent Collection Installation, March 2006 - March 13, 2007
MCCM Permanent Collection Installation, November 19, 2007 - December 1, 2014
Connections: the Power of Objects, Schatten Corridor Gallery, Robert W. Woodruff Gallery, Emory University, October 20, 2022 - January 8, 2023. (Brochure cover image).
Published ReferencesMichael C. Carlos Museum Handbook (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 1996), 110.
MCCM Newsletter, December 2003 - February 2004.
Michael C. Carlos Museum: Highlights of the Collections (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2011), 108.
John A. Burrison, Global Clay: Themes in World Ceramic Traditions (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2017), 100, figure 4.5, and 105.

ProvenanceEx private collection, Minneapolis, Minnesota, acquired in Democratic Republic of the Congo. Ex coll. Robert Arnett, United States. Ex coll. William S. Arnett (1939-2020), Atlanta, Georgia.

Status

Not on view

Collections