TERRACOTTA JAR WITH FIGURATIVE HANDLE
[1-3,5]: TERRACOTTA JAR WITH FIGURATIVE HANDLE
[4]: A Mangbetu woman poses with her side profile showing her elongated skull (lipombo) and beautiful hairpiece that fans out at the end, common amongst the Mangbetu and seen in the design of the jar’s handle
[6]: A terracotta jar being formed. This photo shows the makers refining the facial features of the top of the jar’s handle.
[7]: A different Mangbetu vessel with a similar design language photographed at the @britishmuseumFrom: Mangbetu culture, Democratic Republic of the Congo 🇨🇩Source [1-6]: art-africain-traditionnel.com/en/recipients/1739-mangbetu-anthropomorphic-jar.html
Source notes [1-6]: “In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, south of the Uele, in the Mangbetu and Niangara territories, we find anthropomorphic pottery whose neck presents a head or a character with an elongated skull according to the tradition of the country. See in contextual photos, the realization of a Mangbetu terracotta jar in the first half of the 20th century and an illustration of the characteristic high headdress worn by Mangbetu individuals, whose skull, it must be remembered, was constrained from birth, using strips, to follow an ogival shape for aesthetic purposes.”
Observations: anthropomorphism in form, continuation of a design language, considering how parts of an object intersect with themselves (handle to body), visual harmony, creating visual hierarchy (larger handle; attention given to the human head), storytelling within the form, ornament enhancing and not competing with the form.