Male Figure of a Pair

From the Cleveland Museum of Art record

One of a pair, this male figure is adorned with metal, bead, and shell ornaments at the ears, waist, and ankles. An ornament on his upper arm may identify him as a warrior. Each figure has a series of vertically aligned bumps on the forehead. These represent highly raised keloid scars that were culturally meaningful forms of body modification. Carving of paired figures is well documented among the Ngbandi and their neighbors, the Ngbaka-Minagende, where such sculptures are said to represent the mythical ancestor Seto and his sister-wife, Nabo. Field-based research cannot confirm the existence of figurative couples among the Ngbandi. Few examples of Ngbandi sculpture exist, and even fewer retain their adornments.