pottery - Mangbetu - Congo DRC (No Reserve Price)

ANTHROPOMORPHIC POTTERY - MANGBETU - ZAIRE
In Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda. . . and as in many other African countries, it is women who are the potters. Men are responsible for extracting and transporting clayey soil. Everything else falls to women.

The clay mixed with sand is trodden underfoot. The technique used for making the pots is the so-called “columbine” technique. The potter layers the clay balls and levels them with a spatula, a piece of gourd. The exterior walls, still damp, are decorated with patterns using a small braid of rush.

The pots are left to dry for about a week, sometimes in the shade, sometimes in the sun. Cooking is done the day before the market. We first burn dry herbs inside the pots to avoid too great a difference in temperature between the inside and the outside. The pottery is piled up on a bed made of branches or stones and old pottery. They are covered with dry grass. Cooking lasts one to two hours.

The potter takes each pot out of the hearth with a long pole and sprinkles them with water mixed with ashes.

The pots will be taken to the market the next day to be sold or exchanged.