Pipe Bowl: Seated Figure

The art of the northern savanna is associated with the sumptuous royal courts of the Mangbetu peoples. At its height during the second half of the nineteenth century, Mangbetu aristocrats surrounded themselves with a wide variety of finely crafted boxes, jars, stools, pipes, musical instruments and weapons. This distinctive tradition of anthropomorphic sculpture developed around 1900. Although such forms predate the colonial presence, European patrons greatly increased the demand for them.

Pipes adorned with such elaborately carved tobacco bowls were the prerogative of the Mangbetu ruling aristocracy. This pipe bowl representing a woman, whose body entirely frames the tobacco bowl, was certainly inspired by European examples.

Credit: Gift of James J. Ross, 2011