24 SUPERB MANGBETU HAIRPINS Ivory - 19 cm to 38,5 cm D.R.Congo "Through the photographs of Lang, Hutereau, Czekanowski, and later Zagourski, Eliot Elisofon, Martin Birnbaum, Angela Fischer, Carol Beckwith, and others, the Mangbetu have become well known for the distinctive ivory pins they wore in their hats and hairdos. [...] The tapering ivory pins with discs at the top required extraordinary carving skill and, as Lang said, "wasted" a great deal of ivory because so much of the material in the tip
of the tusk had to be chipped away to leave the slender long pin."
Marc Leo Felix, White Gold, Black Hands. Ivory Sculpture in Congo, vol. 7, p.90 This group of Mangbetu hairpins is one of the most important collections of these objects, as well by their number, as their quality and diversity. Years of collecting would be required to build a collection like this. Provenance: Private collection, Ghent Galerie Didier Claes, Brussels Private collection, Belgium