Lidded Box

Early 20th century

Mangbetu or Zande
Ule region, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Central Africa

Mangbetu and Zande sculptors created a range of utilitarian objects decorated with elements of human anatomy. This lidded box features the head of a woman with a typical halo-shaped hairstyle atop a base shaped like the kind of stool used by women. The body was constructed by wrapping layers of bark into a cylinder. Members of the Mangbetu and Zande nobility used boxes like this one to store valuables such as jewelry and protective charms.

Status: On View, Gallery 137
Department: Arts of Africa

Culture: Mangbetu
Title: Lidded Box
Place: Democratic Republic of the Congo (Object made in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1900–1950
Medium: Wood, pigment, and raffia cord
Dimensions: H.: 58.4 cm (23 in.)
Credit Line: Bessie Bennett and Edward Johnson endowments
Reference Number: 2001.411

Francois Neyt, Traditional Arts and History of Zaire: Forest Cultures and Kingdomes of the Savannah (Louvain: Institute Supérieur d’Archéologie et d’Historie de l’Art; Brussels: Société d’Arts Primitifs, 1981), fig. IV.1, discussed pp. 66-7.
Susan Vogel, African Aesthetics: The Carlo Menzino Collection (New York: The Center for African Art, 1986), p. 181, fig. 130.
News and Events: The Art Institute of Chicago Members’ Magazine (March/April 2002), p. 5 (ill.).
Constantine Petridis et al., Speaking of Objects: African Art at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2020), cat. no. 66, pp. 160-161 (ill.).

New York, N.Y., The Center for African Art, African Aesthetics: The Carlo Manzino Collection, May 7-Sep. 7, 1986.

Jacques Blanckaert (died 1995), Brussels, Belgium, before 1986 [this and the following according to acquisition documentation and personal communication from Donald Morris Gallery dated Aug. 9, 2001 and Oct. 18, 2012 in curatorial file]; Carlo Monzino (1931-1996), Lugano, Switzerland, by 1986 [Vogel, 1986, p. 181]. Lance and Roberta Entwistle, London, UK, by 2000; sold to the Donald Morris Gallery, Birmingham, Mich., and New York, N.Y., by 2001; sold to the Art Institute, 2001.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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