Autumn 2018

Country: Nigeria Material: wood Height: 49,5 cm The socalled 'bird of prophecy'

Country: Burkina Faso Material: wood Height: 48 cm

Country: Burkina Faso Material: bronze Height: 8 cm

Country: D.R. Congo Materials: terracotta, mica Height: 28,5 cm Artist: Mbitim "'Mbitim', was an artist of exceptional skill and originality. His pots, jars and dishes were of varied and beautiful form, many decorated with Zande heads and figures, each one distinct, true to type and with its own definite personality. He worked swiftly with his fingers, and a split wood spatula; the only other tools were an achatina shell for the nostrils, and a fragment of gourd. The clay was very light in colour. This man's services are now pledged to the Sleeping Sickness Station at Lirangu, where he is encouraged to make book-ends and other objects of European design, but his work still remains individual" (Mrs Powell Cotton, "Village Handicrafts in the Sudan", Man 34 (112), pp 90-91). They collected several potter's tools and samples of unfired clay from Mbitim, now in the museum collection (see 1934.8.132), as well as a selection of his products. For vessels in the Pitt Rivers Museum that may have been produced by Mbitim, see anthropomorphic jars 1934.8.134, 1950.12.117-118 and bowls 1930.86.43-44, and 1931.66.2-3. Other examples of Mbitim's work may be found in the Cleveland Museum of Art (1996.301-302) and the British Museum (1934.3-8.27 and 1931.3-21.48).

Country: Cameroon Material: wood Height: 40,5 cm

Country: Materials: wood, glass beads, Height (wooden mask): 22 cm

Country: Burkina Faso Material: wood Height: 56,5 cm

Country: D.R. Congo Material: wood Height: 71 cm

Country: Liberia Materials: wood, metal Height: 64,5 cm

Country: D.R. Congo Material: wood Height: 36 cm