Extremly Rare Lobala Ngiri Mabo Shield

Extremly Rare Lobala Ngiri Mabo Shield

Extremly Rare Lobala Ngiri Mabo Shield. According to Benitez-Jahannot (ibid.), “Writing for the Musée Royale de l’Afrique Centrale in Tervuren, Herman Burssens notes that societies in the Ubangi region considered the manufacture of shields as a weaver’s most important task. Only men were allowed this occupation, except among the Ngiri and Poto, where women performed the basketry work on shields.”

Ngbaka, Ngbundu,  Ngombe, Ngiri, Mabo, Nzombo, Manza Shield

Ubangi Region

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Basketry, wood
height 155 cm.

Cf. Benitez-Johannot, Purissima and Jean Paul Barbier, Shields: Africa, Southeast Asia and Oceania, Prestel, 2000, fig. 12 (BMG 1026-310) for a similar shield formerly in the Josef Mueller Collection.