A wooden sculpture - Zande - DR Congo (No reserve price)

A Zande scepter collected in the Bondo region of DR Congo, with two heads crested on top of a bigger head as an apex. Glossy patina, signs of ritual use and age.

Zande scepters occupy a subtle yet authoritative place within the artistic and political vocabulary of the Zande peoples of northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic. Although less monumental than royal drums or courtly throwing knives, these scepters functioned as potent insignia of leadership and adjudication. Their forms, typically carved in dense hardwoods, draw upon a long-standing Zande concern with calibrated proportion, refined line, and the controlled integration of figural and geometric motifs. While individual examples vary, many scepters incorporate a stylized human or anthropo–zoomorphic head, its features rendered with a minimalist precision that signals ancestral gravitas rather than portraiture.

The scepter’s authority derives not only from its material form but also from the sociopolitical context in which it operated. Historically, Zande polities developed under the rule of nobles and princes whose power was both military and ritual. The scepter served as a marker of such status, functioning in settings of arbitration, oath taking, and the enactment of chiefly prerogatives. Its presence helped materialize the intangible dimension of command, projecting a moral force linked to the ancestral foundations of governance. Within this framework, the sculptural head often found on the finial acted as an emblem of judicial vigilance, its narrowed eyes and tightly modeled features communicating watchfulness and restraint rather than overt aggression.

Zande sculpture is widely recognized for its formal restraint, and the scepter stands as a distilled expression of this aesthetic. Carvers emphasized smooth transitions between elements, favoring compressed volumes and a measured sequencing of planes that produces a sense of internal coherence. Even when adorned with subtle incised patterns or wrapped with vegetal fibers, the object remains fundamentally sober. This sobriety aligns with broader Zande values regarding the containment of power: efficacy is communicated through condensed form and disciplined workmanship rather than flamboyant elaboration. In this respect, the scepter resonates with other Zande ritual objects, such as oracle devices and magic receptacles, which similarly rely on controlled abstraction to encode spiritual authority.

The colonial dispersal of Zande regalia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries placed many scepters in European and later American museums. Early collectors often grouped them indiscriminately with neighboring Mangbetu or Bará works, obscuring local classifications. Recent scholarship, drawing on Zande oral testimony and historical accounts, has emphasized the importance of re-situating these objects within the judicial and diplomatic spheres of Zande political life. This reorientation not only clarifies their function but also illuminates the intellectual dimension of Zande statecraft, in which sculpture operated as a medium for articulating equilibrium, legitimacy, and the ethical obligations of rule.

References
Evans-Pritchard, E. E. The Azande: History and Political Institutions. Oxford University Press, 1971.
Fisher, Angela. Africa Adorned. Abrams, 1984.
Felix, Marc Leo. Art & Oracle: African Art and Rituals of Divination. Kalulu, 1991.