Showcased by 

Dance enclosure panels

Salampasu people (D.R. Congo / Angola)
Late 19th – early 20th century
Height: 175.5/176.5cm – Width of upper panel: 126cm – Maximum depth: 32cm
Wood, natural pigments

Rare and important set of panels from a dance enclosure of a Salampasu warrior society. The vertical panels depict the mythical male ancestor, half-man half-crocodile, and the original female ancestor. The upper panel depicts the trophy heads of enemies defeated in battle. To be compared with the only two other known sets of panels, one in the Fowler Museum in Los Angeles and the other in the Afrika Museum in Berg En Dal (Netherlands). Wall hanging in three independent parts.

Provenance

Collected in-situ in 1942 by Henrik Dillens, owner of a brickworks in southern Congo.
Former Dillens family collection – transmitted by inheritance.
Former Alain Guisson collection (1951 – 2019), Brussels, Belgium.

Publication(s)

Exhibition(s)

Dance enclosure panels