VINTAGE MID 20TH C. AFRICAN MANGBETU TERRACOTTA FIGURE PROFESSIONALLY APPRAISED
Item History & Price
| Reference Number: Avaluer:24949326 | Country/Region of Manufacture: Congo |
Item Type: Attributed to the African Mangbetu People of Gabon (Congo).
Item Professionally Assessed: YES
Auction Estimate: $200-275
Retail Estimate: $475
Item Description: The figure appears to be a rich, reddish clay. There is a head, long neck, torso and legs. The head has a round collar below the chin. The shape of the head is elongated with small almond-shaped eyes, protruding nose and slightly open mouth with a fuller lower lip - the ears are evid...ent. The rolled collar is attached in the back to a helmet headdress. There is a round protrusion on the back of he head. The figure is of the African Mangbetu people of Gabon (Congo). The elongated head is a sign of beauty in the Mangbetu culture.
NOTESIn the northeast of Africa live the Mangbetu and the Zande. Mangbetu sculptures - in wood, ivory and clay - are often characterized by the elongated skull forms produced by binding the heads of young children, The helmet with the collar is the binding of the head of your figure. Much of Mangbetu sculpture was not made for religious purposes, but was "art-for-art's-sake". Mangbetu carvings of women and young girls were not idols or fetishes, but were made for amusement. Your figure is of a very young girl and was made to show the ritualistic binding of the head.
Item Size: 11x3x3
Country or Region: Gabon
Item Age: Mid 20th Century
Provenance: Ex Marcel Gibrat Collection purchased between 1965 and 1991
Authentication performed: Professionally Appraised
Visual Inspection:
Tactile Inspection:
Olfactory Inspection:
Aural Inspection:
Microscopic Inspection:
Chemical Testing:
Certainty of Authenticity: 100%
For more info do a search for "The Marcel Gibrat Collection" including the quote marks.
Marcel Gibrat (Pictured working on a Greek Kylyx in the 1970s), my grandfather, was a Restorer for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan and later owned a Madison Avenue Restoration Studio and Art Gallery one block from the Guggenheim Museum. From the 1960s to 1990s. Marcel was undoubtedly a genius and was, as far as I know, the only Restorer for the Met without a PhD. In fact he had a sixth grade education. He was also a talented painter.
I’m Max Lewin the curator of what remains of Marcel’s extensive art collection, comprising ancient, tribal, Asian and European art. I have grown up around art and antiquities my entire life and am a student of history and ancient cultures. I worked with Marcel summers and in college. I have sold over 1000 items from his collection on eBay since 2003 with a 100% positive rating. Satisfaction guaranteed and returns accepted.
Marcel began purchasing antiquities, tribal art, Asian art and European art beginning in the early to mid 1960s and many of the pieces in the collection were purchased at this time. He collected, restored, bought and sold high quality items for the better part of three decades, before falling ill and being unable to work in 1992. Marcel was an unquestioned expert in antiquities and all items in the collection from the ancient world are guaranteed to be authentic. Marcel also had a particular affinity for African tribal art, and while dating such items is problematic, he absolutely had impeccable taste. He started buying these items nearly sixty years ago when some of them were no doubt already quite old. He believed some to be from the 19th, 18th or even 17th century, and some of the items deemed important have in fact been sold for high ticket values at auction. Some of his opinions on provenance of tribal items have been challenged. There are also Asian items of various quality, and many fine and genuine items from primitive cultures including relatively contemporary ( a few hundred years old) and both neolithic and upper paleolithic items. Many of the items have archaeological markings.
Item Professionally Assessed: YES
Auction Estimate: $200-275
Retail Estimate: $475
Item Description: The figure appears to be a rich, reddish clay. There is a head, long neck, torso and legs. The head has a round collar below the chin. The shape of the head is elongated with small almond-shaped eyes, protruding nose and slightly open mouth with a fuller lower lip - the ears are evid...ent. The rolled collar is attached in the back to a helmet headdress. There is a round protrusion on the back of he head. The figure is of the African Mangbetu people of Gabon (Congo). The elongated head is a sign of beauty in the Mangbetu culture.
NOTESIn the northeast of Africa live the Mangbetu and the Zande. Mangbetu sculptures - in wood, ivory and clay - are often characterized by the elongated skull forms produced by binding the heads of young children, The helmet with the collar is the binding of the head of your figure. Much of Mangbetu sculpture was not made for religious purposes, but was "art-for-art's-sake". Mangbetu carvings of women and young girls were not idols or fetishes, but were made for amusement. Your figure is of a very young girl and was made to show the ritualistic binding of the head.
Item Size: 11x3x3
Country or Region: Gabon
Item Age: Mid 20th Century
Provenance: Ex Marcel Gibrat Collection purchased between 1965 and 1991
Authentication performed: Professionally Appraised
Visual Inspection:
Tactile Inspection:
Olfactory Inspection:
Aural Inspection:
Microscopic Inspection:
Chemical Testing:
Certainty of Authenticity: 100%
For more info do a search for "The Marcel Gibrat Collection" including the quote marks.
Marcel Gibrat (Pictured working on a Greek Kylyx in the 1970s), my grandfather, was a Restorer for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan and later owned a Madison Avenue Restoration Studio and Art Gallery one block from the Guggenheim Museum. From the 1960s to 1990s. Marcel was undoubtedly a genius and was, as far as I know, the only Restorer for the Met without a PhD. In fact he had a sixth grade education. He was also a talented painter.
I’m Max Lewin the curator of what remains of Marcel’s extensive art collection, comprising ancient, tribal, Asian and European art. I have grown up around art and antiquities my entire life and am a student of history and ancient cultures. I worked with Marcel summers and in college. I have sold over 1000 items from his collection on eBay since 2003 with a 100% positive rating. Satisfaction guaranteed and returns accepted.
Marcel began purchasing antiquities, tribal art, Asian art and European art beginning in the early to mid 1960s and many of the pieces in the collection were purchased at this time. He collected, restored, bought and sold high quality items for the better part of three decades, before falling ill and being unable to work in 1992. Marcel was an unquestioned expert in antiquities and all items in the collection from the ancient world are guaranteed to be authentic. Marcel also had a particular affinity for African tribal art, and while dating such items is problematic, he absolutely had impeccable taste. He started buying these items nearly sixty years ago when some of them were no doubt already quite old. He believed some to be from the 19th, 18th or even 17th century, and some of the items deemed important have in fact been sold for high ticket values at auction. Some of his opinions on provenance of tribal items have been challenged. There are also Asian items of various quality, and many fine and genuine items from primitive cultures including relatively contemporary ( a few hundred years old) and both neolithic and upper paleolithic items. Many of the items have archaeological markings.
