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

A Zande sculpture, DR Congo, with two faces stacked one on top of the other, ornamented with metal rings and beads. Signs of ritual use an age.

Zande sculpture, produced by the Zande people of northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as adjacent areas of South Sudan and the Central African Republic, reflects a complex intersection of political authority, ritual practice, and esoteric knowledge. Best known for their figural carvings associated with divination and spirit mediation, Zande sculptural forms are typically compact, frontal, and marked by a balanced integration of abstraction and anatomical articulation. These sculptures are often associated with abiru and yanda cults—esoteric religious systems centered on spirit invocation, healing, and protection.
Zande figures are carved primarily from wood and are frequently adorned with pigment, especially red camwood and white kaolin, indicating their ritual activation. Most figures range between 20 and 60 centimeters in height and feature a static posture, oversized heads with high, crested coiffures, pronounced facial features, and simplified limbs. Eyes are often almond-shaped, and mouths are subtly carved, giving the figures an alert and introspective demeanor. Though rarely naturalistic, the bodies show proportional care, and surface detailing such as scarification, genitalia, or jewelry may be emphasized to mark social or ritual identity.

These sculptures were not designed for public display but functioned within private or secretive ritual contexts. In particular, yanda figures, often referred to in older ethnographic literature as “fetishes,” served as receptacles for spirit forces and were used by specialized practitioners—often manzambi (healers or diviners)—to diagnose and treat illness, ensure success in hunting or warfare, and protect against witchcraft. Objects were activated through incantations and the application of sacrificial substances, which formed encrusted patinas over time. Some sculptures were housed in personal shrines or carried during ritual performances. The power of the figure resided not in its form alone, but in the invisible force (mbisimo) believed to be attracted or housed within it.
Zande sculptural production was historically linked to the centralized political systems that characterized the region from the eighteenth century onward. Under the rule of royal clans and warrior elites, artists worked under court patronage, producing not only ritual objects but also prestige items such as elaborately carved stools, staffs, and household utensils. Sculptures, however, retained a distinct function tied to divination and spiritual efficacy, and were typically produced by carvers initiated into relevant cults.

In European collections, Zande figures were often mislabeled or conflated with works from neighboring groups such as the Mangbetu, with whom the Zande share certain stylistic features due to historical interaction and intermarriage. Colonial collecting practices in the early twentieth century prioritized visually striking objects, often divorcing them from their ritual context and thereby obscuring their original meanings.

Zande sculpture, though less prominent in early canonical African art literature, has received increasing scholarly attention for its nuanced synthesis of formal clarity and spiritual potency. Its contributions to the broader Central African sculptural corpus underscore the diversity and depth of ritual art practices in the region.

References:
Evans-Pritchard, E. E. Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande. Oxford University Press, 1937.
Coquet, Michèle. “Sculpture and Ritual Among the Zande.” African Arts, vol. 18, no. 3, 1985, pp. 60–67.
Vogel, Susan Mullin. Art/Artifact: African Art in Anthropology Collections. Center for African Art, 1988.
Schildkrout, Enid, and Curtis A. Keim. African Reflections: Art from Northeastern Zaire. University of Washington Press, 1990.