Pair of pottery book ends, one decorated with the figure of a sitting man and the other the figure of a sitting woman.
Pair of book-ends made by Zande (South Sudan) potter Mbitim. Well-known local potter creating cultural objects for use by Europeans. Bringing African art into Kentish homes.
Mbitim was a well known potter by the time Percy and Hannah Powell-Cotton met him in 1933. Mbitim, from the Zande cultural group in South Sudan, was described by Percy as ‘An artist of exception skill’. Percy filmed the potter at work and Hannah wrote an article about his work for the academic anthropological journal ‘MAN’. Collected in Li Rangu (South Sudan) on 28th April 1933. Mbitim’s work can be found in museums all over Europe.
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