Mangbetu. <em>Woman’s Bustle (Negbe) and Front Piece (Nogimwu)</em>, early 20th century. Banana leaf, raffia, a: 9 5/8 x 13 3/16 in. (24.4 x 33.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Expedition 1931, Robert B. Woodward Memorial Fund, 31.1835a-b. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.31.1835b_front.jpg)

Mangbetu. Woman’s Bustle (Negbe) and Front Piece (Nogimwu), early 20th century. Banana leaf, raffia, a: 9 5/8 x 13 3/16 in. (24.4 x 33.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Expedition 1931, Robert B. Woodward Memorial Fund, 31.1835a-b. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.31.1835b_front.jpg)

DOWNLOAD

Woman’s Bustle (Negbe) and Front Piece (Nogimwu)

Arts of Africa

At the beginning of the twentieth century, upper-class Mangbetu women wore a small banana or plantain leaf bustle (called a negbe) in the back to cover their buttocks. The women appliqued delicately cut and colored pieces of leaves atop an oval pad built up of layered plantain leaves. A similar but smaller object (called a nogetwe) was worn in the front over a belt to fasten a piece of bark cloth in place as a frontal covering.

CULTURE Mangbetu

MEDIUM Banana leaf, raffia

Place Made: Ubangi or Uele region, Democratic Republic of the Congo

DATES early 20th century

DIMENSIONS a: 9 5/8 x 13 3/16 in. (24.4 x 33.5 cm) b: 3 3/8 x 4 1/2 in. (8.6 x 11.4 cm) (show scale)

COLLECTIONS Arts of Africa

ACCESSION NUMBER 31.1835a-b

CREDIT LINE Museum Expedition 1931, Robert B. Woodward Memorial Fund

CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION a- Shape: oval with wide border of light and dark strips. Center is plain with small, dark random stitches. Dark top rectangle, decorated with multiple rows of finely twisted fiber. b- Flat base pad covered with linear patterns over lighter banana leaves. Base attached to a fiber roll, decorated with three diamond-shaped areas bound by light raffia bands.

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view

CAPTION Mangbetu. Woman’s Bustle (Negbe) and Front Piece (Nogimwu), early 20th century. Banana leaf, raffia, a: 9 5/8 x 13 3/16 in. (24.4 x 33.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Expedition 1931, Robert B. Woodward Memorial Fund, 31.1835a-b. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.31.1835b_front.jpg)

IMAGE front, CUR.31.1835b_front.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2014

"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.

RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY

You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.

RECORD COMPLETENESS

Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.

Collection Menu

Woman’s Bustle (Negbe) and Front Piece (Nogimwu)

Arts of Africa

RELATED OBJECTS