Ngbaka Shield With Faces Congo

The described wooden shield, adorned with faces and lacking handles, suggests its potential use as a ceremonial mask or headpiece. It features a rim of drilled holes with braided reeds tied around it. Such shields were common across the Congo region during the colonial period, marked by inter-ethnic conflicts and resistance movements against colonialism. The Ngbandi and Ngbaka, residing in the Ubangi and Lualaba River systems, engaged in subsistence farming and fishing due to the depletion of traditional game animals. The Ngbaka, guided by their belief in the supreme deity Gbonboso, attribute their origins to spirit messengers Seto and Nabo. Their artistic output includes poorly understood spirit/ancestor statues, often representing Seto and Nabo. Both groups share sculptural forms and scarification details, leading to occasional confusion in mask attribution. While masks are less numerous among the Ngbandi, the Ngbaka use Dagara masks in initiation ceremonies (Ganza or Gaza) and agricultural rituals, providing cultural insights into these distinctive communities.