Mangbetu Bust Vase 231.1 Children Playing A Chocho or Gorfa milk

A Chocho or Gorfa milk jug is handmade using traditional Ethiopian techniques with woven sisal fiber and aluminum wire

The designs are elaborate and complex often showing rectangles and square patterns

growing right in front of you

and stone texture

Mangbetu Bust Vase 231.1 Children Playing A Chocho or Gorfa milkA Mangbetu bust vase from the northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo part vessel, part sculpture, in hand burnished terracotta with a deep, near obsidian patina. The Mangbetu developed this figurative style in the early 20th century to honour an idealised beauty. The elongated head reflects lipombo, the traditional shaping of the skull as a sign of majesty and status, crowned by the flared tumburu coiffure once worn by ruling class women.