Banda Ngbaka figure - Ngbaka - DR Congo
Opens tomorrow
Starting bid
€ 1
Add to your favourites to get an alert when the auction starts.
Expert
Selected by Julien Gauthier
A decade of experience in historical arms, armour, and African art.
Estimate € 150 - € 200
Catawiki Buyer Protection
Your payment’s safe with us until you receive your object.View details
Trustpilot 4.4 | 132495 reviews
Rated Excellent on Trustpilot.
Description from the seller
This beautiful African statue with a very stylized appearance comes from the Ubangi region, where many ethnic groups live, spanning the DR Congo and the Central African Republic. Among the best-known groups are the Azande, the Ngbandi, the Mangbetu, the Ngbaka, and the Banda. Since it is usually not easy to identify a piece from this region precisely, given the geographic and cultural complexity of ethnic groups, the typology of the piece I am proposing here at least makes it possible to attribute it to the Ngbaka or the Banda. Located northwest of Ubangi, many Banda who arrived in the DR Congo were assimilated there, among others by the Ngbaka. Their artifacts were thus “ngbaka-ized” in this case. Numerous objects with morphological Banda features bear witness to this integration.
The Little figures of this type came into play in the context of initiations organized by secret societies responsible for circumcision, excision, and thereby the transition from childhood to adulthood, as we see in the contextual photo where a teenage Banda is circumcised.
In the work Ubangi, J.-L. GROOTAERS, Actes Sud, p. 177, we find a few Ngbaka Banda figurines with very similar typology. Note, in the image on the left is an original Banda figurine.
This beautiful African statue with a very stylized appearance comes from the Ubangi region, where many ethnic groups live, spanning the DR Congo and the Central African Republic. Among the best-known groups are the Azande, the Ngbandi, the Mangbetu, the Ngbaka, and the Banda. Since it is usually not easy to identify a piece from this region precisely, given the geographic and cultural complexity of ethnic groups, the typology of the piece I am proposing here at least makes it possible to attribute it to the Ngbaka or the Banda. Located northwest of Ubangi, many Banda who arrived in the DR Congo were assimilated there, among others by the Ngbaka. Their artifacts were thus “ngbaka-ized” in this case. Numerous objects with morphological Banda features bear witness to this integration.
The Little figures of this type came into play in the context of initiations organized by secret societies responsible for circumcision, excision, and thereby the transition from childhood to adulthood, as we see in the contextual photo where a teenage Banda is circumcised.
In the work Ubangi, J.-L. GROOTAERS, Actes Sud, p. 177, we find a few Ngbaka Banda figurines with very similar typology. Note, in the image on the left is an original Banda figurine.
Details
Ethnic group/ culture
Ngbaka
Country of Origin
DR Congo
Material
wood, beads
Sold with stand
No
Condition
Fair condition
Title of artwork
Banda Ngbaka figure
Height
40 cm
Sold by
