Creativity in the Congo Free State: Nineteenth and Twentieth-Century Funerary Mats

Carlee S. Forbes

Mention of the Congo at the turn of the twentieth century This study focuses on the funerary practices of the often brings forward thoughts of oppression and desolation. Kongo people. This is not to be confused with the modern From 1885-1908, Belgian King Léopold II had exclusive states the Democratic Republic of Congo (Congo-Kinshasa) control over this vast area in Central Africa. The area, located or the Republic of Congo (Congo-Brazzaville).1 Instead, this around the Congo River, is rich in rubber and ivory. Léo- paper discusses Kongo with a “K,” a reference to speakers pold II took great advantage of these resources. He granted of the Kikongo language, who live in both the Democratic concessions to different companies, essentially giving them Republic of Congo and in Northern Angola. Their practices the right to act as they wished and to extract whatever they and location correspond with the historic Kingdom of Kongo desired. Léopold II and the companies placed harsh demands that flourished in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. upon the indigenous Congolese people to collect resources. If quotas were not met, the people would be severely pun- The Finest Velvet ished (Figure 1). It is through this lens that most stories of Raffia products have a long history within the Kongo the Congo at the turn of the century are set. Congo is seen Kingdom. Both the material and the designs of raffia textiles stripped of her natural resources, her people are broken, have long-standing significance and meaning for the Kongo. and the colonial powers are in complete control. However, Fine textiles served as indicators of prestige, wealth, and this paper examines a case in which the Congo people were spirituality. Understanding the historic uses of raffia estab- not completely browbeaten or defeated. lishes the base from which it is possible to understand the One demonstration of the people’s agency is the deliber- importance of the twentieth-century funerary mats. ate adaptation and transformation of their artistic practices The Kingdom of the Kongo is well known for its pro- to fit changing situations. Kongo funerary practices morphed duction of raffia textiles. European visitors continually com- and changed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth mented on them. In 1508, Duarte Pacheo Pereira, one of centuries. Raffia mats, one of the many materials used in the early explorers to Kongo, states funerals, may be used as a case study demonstrating the …in this kingdom of the Kongo they pro- changing funerary art, funerary practices, and the role of duce cloths from palm fibers with velvet the artist in the Lower Congo region around the turn of the like decoration, of such beauty that better century. The Kongo people have a long history of producing ones are not made in Italy. In no other part raffia materials. Examining finely made and decorated raffia of Guinea is there a country where they textiles produced during the height of the Kongo Kingdom are able to weave these clothes as in this in the seventeenth century creates a context through which Kingdom of Kongo.2 it is possible to interpret the twentieth-century raffia mats. Such historic textiles were made from exceptionally fine By questioning how the mats were used in funerals and raffia threads. Raffia fibers are extracted from palm leaves. their meaning in Kongo society, the mats become a platform Palm leaves are harvested just before the new leaves unfurl. through which it is possible to better understand the turbulent The midrib is then removed, separating the leaves into indi- period of the Congo Free State. vidual units. The skin of the leaf is removed to reveal the fiber

I am grateful to my advisor Dr. Victoria Rovine for her continued guid- 1 In terms of spelling, Kongo equates to the cultural group, kingdom, ance, constructive critiques, and support through the project. I also and language, whereas Congo indicates geographical location, the thank Susan Cooksey, Robin Poynor, and Hein Vanhee, curators of river, and the modern country. The region just north of the lower the Kongo across the Waters exhibition co-organized by the Samuel Congo was not part of the kingdom, but the people are nonetheless P. Harn Museum of Art in Gainesville, Florida, and the Royal Museum Kongo. This will be further complicated by quotations from historical for Central Africa in Tervuren, Belgium. Research for that exhibition texts that do not necessarily follow this pattern. sparked this project, and finally, many thanks to my art history peers at the University of Florida for their academic, moral, and personal 2 Translated and quoted from Duarte Pacheco Pereira, Esmeraldo de Situ support. Orbis 1505-1508 in Ezio Bassani, African Art and Artefacts in European Collections 1400-1800 (London: British Museum Press, 2000), 279. athanor xxxii carlee s. forbes

within. That fiber is then dried and is ready for use.3 Due to the difficulty of this quality identification: the limitations of the leaf’s size, each fiber is, at maximum, There are four kinds of cloths. The best and two meters long.4 These threads were then woven into plain most refined has figures…it takes fifteen or cloth using an upright loom. sixteen days to make one. Only the king, The woven designs of the early objects were created in and those whom he gives permission, may two ways, and a single textile could include examples of both wear the cloth. The second type is not techniques. The first method, embroidery, involved sewing as refined as the first, but the two types the design into the woven cloth. This embroidery was done greatly resemble one another, and unless in such a way that the design is only visible on the front. one is an expert, one may be fooled at first Embroidery created a raised surface and allowed for extra sight since the second type also contains embellishments that were difficult to obtain through the figures. You must examine the back to see process of weaving. The second method is “piling.” In this the difference.13 process, extra palm fibers were added to the weft in loops The production itself can be used to affirm the prestige or rings. These loops would later be cut—leaving the trace of the wearer as one who has the favor of the king, one of small tufts.5 When rubbed back and forth, piling creates who can afford to acquire the materials, and one who can the velvet-like texture mentioned in the travelers’ accounts. commission the weaver. With this labor-intensive process, it would take fifteen to In addition to the decorated cloths being used as clothing eighteen days to create a textile that is about 20 x 20 inches and markers of status, undecorated cloths were used as cur- (50 x 50 cm) (Figure 2).6 rency. The cloths were thin, but tightly woven. They could be In the Kongo Kingdom, the finest textiles were reserved single units, or sewn into “books” by attaching several cloths for nobles with high status. Only the Kongo king and the in the corner.14 It is of note, that this was not necessarily a members of the court whom he appointed were permitted currency in the full sense of the term since it is unlikely that to wear or display the finest quality textiles.7 One impor- raffia was used in the buying and selling of goods.15 However, tant form of the decorated cloths is the mpu cap worn by there is evidence that the cloth could be collected as a tribute kings and chiefs (Figure 3).8 A report from the 1491 visit of tax.16 Other important events also included the exchange of Portuguese emissaries indicates that textiles were also hung raffia textiles in a marriage agreement, or as a sign of friend- on the wall, much like the tapestries that were displayed in ship.17 Thus, raffia may not necessarily be used as currency Europe at that time.9 In addition, these textiles were traded in everyday transactions, but its exchange signaled ideas of and presented to foreign dignitaries as objects of prestige.10 prestige, status, or respect. The hierarchy of textiles and the regulations surrounding Not only were these earliest textiles important signs of them were so important that if a person was found selling status, but their function and designs perhaps also reflected a high-grade textile without the king’s permission, he or Kongo beliefs. In Kongo thought, the realm of the living is she could be executed.11 The Kongo people knew well and integrally connected with the world of the dead. Chiefs, understood the differences between the different grades of diviners, and banganga, or ritual specialists, were important textiles.12 As an outsider, Olfert Dapper described in 1686 connectors between the world of the living and the spiritual 3 Émile Jean Baptiste Coart, Vannerie et tissage (Bruxelles: Renaissance 9 Mario Pereira, African Art at the Portuguese Court (PhD diss, Brown d’Occident, 1926), 11-14; and Jan Vansina, “Raffia Cloth in West University, 2010), 149. Central Africa, 1500-1800,” in An Expanding World, ed. Maureen Fennell Mazzaoui, vol. 12 of Textiles: Production, Trade, and Demand 10 Pereira, African Art, 150. (Aldershot: Variorum, 1998), 266-267. 11 Phyllis M. Martin, “Power Cloth and Currency on the Loango Coast,” 4 Joseph Maes, Vannerie au Lac Leopold II (Bruxelles: Commission pour African Economic History 15 (1986), 2. la protection des arts et metiers indigènes, 1936), 3-4. 12 Phyllis M. Martin. The External Trade of the Loango Coast, 1576-1870; 5 Bassani, Art and Artefacts, 278. the Effects of Changing Commercial Relations on the Vili Kingdom of Loango (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972), 117. 6 Translated and quoted from Olfert Dapper, Description de l’Afrique: contenant les noms, la situation & les confins (Amsterdam: Wolfgang, 13 Dapper, Description de l’Afrique, 324. Author’s translation. Waesberge, Boom & van Someren, 1686) in Bassani, Art and Artefacts, 278. 14 Vansina, “Raffia Cloth,”16.

7 Dapper, Description de l’Afrique, 324. 15 Ibid., 17.

8 For more on mpu caps see: Ezio Bassani, “A note on Kongo high-status 16 Ibid., 9. caps in old European collections,” RES: anthropology and aesthetics 5 (1983): 74–84; Gordon D. Gibson, “High Status Caps of the Kongo 17 Ibid. and Mbundu Peoples,” Textile Museum Journal 4 (1977): 71–96; and Zdenka Volavka, “Insignia of the Divine Authority,” African Arts 14, 18 Wyatt MacGaffey, “The Eyes of Understanding: Kongo Minkisi,” in no. 3 (May 1, 1981): 43–92. Astonishment and Power, ed. Wyatt MacGaffey and Michael D. Harris (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1993), 59-60.

84 creativity in the congo free state: nineteenth and twentieth-century funerary mats

realm of ancestors, and simbi spirits.18 These cloths were but it is important to understand the kings and chiefs had to used and owned by such individuals, thus their designs may be affirmed by the ancestors and simbi spirits and that the reflect this spiritual connection. ancestors and spirits had great power in the world of the The Kongo cosmogram (dikenga dia Kongo in Kikongo) living. Therefore, the king was an important spiritual node is frequently referenced as the core symbol for understand- connecting the world of the living and the world of the dead. ing Kongo cosmology and design patterns, and it could be His high status is integrally connected to his spiritual role. used to explain spiritual significance of the raffia designs.19 Furthermore, there is a long history of using the interlock- In its simplest form, the dikenga is represented as a cross or ing patterns on objects of prestige and status. De Maret and X, two simple crossed lines.20 The centerline, or the kalunga, Denbow report findings of ceramic shards pre-dating and represents the divide between the living and the dead. The contemporary to the Kongo Kingdom.25 The interlocking textiles’ twisting, interlocking patterns may be seen as a com- motif appears frequently on objects of prestige—such as ivory plicated variation on the simple cross motif. Wyatt MacGaffey mpungi trumpets, scepters, and of course textiles, from the calls for a more critical approach to understanding Kongo early Kongo Kingdom and continuing into the nineteenth iconography instead of simply relegating everything to being century. This design continuity illustrates the long-standing understood as a representation of the dikenga.21 MacGaffey practice associating the geometric patterns with objects of recognizes Kongo scholar Fu-Kiau Bunseki’s 1960s publica- prestige and rulership. tions as the first appearance of the term dikenga; the term Thus, through these complex, difficult to create designs, is absent from previous KiKongo dictionaries. The dikenga is made in a valued material, these textiles confirm and reaf- more than just a visual motif; it is the embodiment of spiritual firm the king’s spiritual and social power. However, with the practices in which an nganga moves between the spiritual introduction of European cloth, the fine raffia textiles fell out and living worlds.22 Bunseki’s dikenga cosmogram became of use, and the production of other raffia materials (except for an abstraction to represent this spiritual practice. However, the funerary mats and mpu caps) declined as the Kingdom scholars have adopted the dikenga to explain the prevalent splintered in the late eighteenth century. use of the cross motifs in Kongo arts. In recognizing each cross motif as a dikenga, scholars imply that the motif has Funerary Mats had cosmological importance throughout the entire history The finely woven seventeenth-century textiles from the of the Kongo Kingdom. Through this interpretation, scholars Kongo Kingdom have been much studied, although left out have de-historicized the term. This overuse of the dikenga of these conversations are the raffia mats that began to be disregards earliest evidence of crosses in the Kongo motifs collected in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. and also the role of Christianity (and its cross imagery) in There is little doubt that raffia mats were used in an earlier Kongo society.23 Beginning with (Nzinga a Nkuwu) King João time period. Dapper’s 1647 account speaks of raffia wall I’s conversion in 1491, Christianity has played in important coverings, and Cappuchin missionaries in the seventeenth role in defining identity.24 century write of raffia mats being used to wrap bodies While the textile’s interlocking patterns cannot simply before funeral ceremonies.26 However, it was not until the be understood as dikenga, it is important to note here that late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that the mats Kongo society does not easily separate status and spiritual- began to be collected. The collection of the Royal Museum ity. As previously stated, these textiles were prestige objects, for Central Africa in Tervuren, Belgium, holds a fantastic 19 See Wyatt MacGaffey, Religion and Society in Central Africa: The Poynor, and Hein Vanhee (Gainesville: University of Florida Press, BaKongo of Lower Zaire (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986), 2013), 34-39; Geoffrey Heimlich, “Lower Congo Rock Art Revisited,” 43-49. Nyame Akuma 74 (2010): 42–50.

20 The dikenga may be broken down to represent the four cardinal points. 24 John Thornton and Cécile Fromont have focused extensively on the On the right (east) the rising sun signals the beginning of life, the top Kongo Kingdom as a Christian Kingdom and its use of cross motifs. In (north) is midday and maturation, the left (west) the setting sun and particular, see: Cécile Fromont, “Under the Sign of the Cross: Religious death, and finally the bottom (south) midnight and the existence in Conversion and Visual Correlation in early modern Central Africa,” the spiritual realm—only to be reborn to begin again. RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics 59-60 (2011): 109-123; and John K. Thornton, “The development of an African Catholic Church in 21 Wyatt MacGaffey calls for a more critical approach to studies of Kongo the Kingdom of Kongo, 1491-1750,” Journal of African History 25.2 iconography. Wyatt MacGaffey, “Kongo Atlantic Dialogues” (discussant (1984): 147–167. remarks, Gwendolen M. Carter Conference, University of Florida, Gainesville, 21-22 February 2014). 25 James Denbow, A Manima-Mobouha, and N Sanviti, “Archaeological Excavations Along the Loango Coast,” NSI: Bulletin De Laison Des 22 This spiritual action is similar to the diyowa (cruciform trench) Bit- CICIBA 3 (1988): 37–42; Pierre de Maret, “The Ngovo Group: an tremieux describes in his 1911 account of Khimba initiation practices. industry with polished stone tools Lower Zaire,” The African Archaeo- Leo Bittremieux, La Société secrète des Bakhimba au Mayombe (Brus- logical Review 4 (1986): 103-133. sels: Institute Royal Colonial Belge, 1936), 37-38. 26 Dapper, Description de l’Afrique, 343; and Jean-François De Rome, La 23 Geoffroy Heimlich, “Rock art as a Source for the History of the Kongo Fondation de la mission des Capuchins au Royaume de Congo (1648), Kingdom,” in Kongo across the Waters, ed. Susan Cooksey, Robin quoted in Robert Farris Thompson, “Kongo Civilization and Kongo

85 athanor xxxii carlee s. forbes

inventory showing the variety of raffia mats created at the raffia mats is typified in the elaborate late-nineteenth and turn of the century; this collection is the basis for this study. early-twentieth-century creations of niombo mummies by Many examples can be used to explore the persistence of the Bembe people in the northern Kongo region (Figure 6). the geometric patterns (Figure 4). This continuation of geo- The bodies of nobles were wrapped in layers of raffia mats metric motifs—but also the introduction of new figurative and finally covered in imported, European red flannel. The motifs—says much about the Kongo artists who made them entire bundle took the shape of a body in the symbolic pose and the Kongo people who used them. with one arm extended upward and the other downward, Before the twentieth century, the Kongo Kingdom had suggestive of the link between the world of the living and fallen apart and broken into smaller chieftaincies. Op- the world of the dead.30 Ritual symbols were painted and portunities for European trade had created a rising upper embroidered on the body of the likeness of the ruler, or class throughout Kongo. Kongo traders and chiefs desired adorned with ritual symbols. The combined use of raffia to demonstrate their newly acquired wealth and power mats and imported European flannel in the niombo shows through the accumulation of imported prestige goods and the new importance of both types of cloth in Kongo society. the commissioning of art objects.27 Chiefs still had powerful The outward flannel material proclaimed the importance connections to the spirit world, and they displayed their of European trade and European materials. The new role spiritual connection and their riches on their graves. Graves of imported material and the importance of success/status of Kongo chiefs would be covered in objects—from European that may be gained from trade was a central theme in funer- ceramics, to imported gin bottles, to European textiles, to als—as seen in the presence of many European objects on wooden sculpture, and finally to raffia mats (Figure 5). Col- graves.31 Raffia mats, however, suggest the historical use of lectively, these materials not only served spiritual purposes to raffia products to signal prestige and status.32 communicate with the simbi spirits and with the deceased, The other use of raffia mats was to display them, along but they also display the deceased’s wealth and connections with the other objects, on graves of chiefs (Figure 7). Raffia to Europe. mats displayed on the grave in the nineteenth and early twen- As a transitory period for the deceased, funerals created tieth centuries continued to employ the geometric patterns of close contact between the living and spiritual worlds. It is the past, but new figurative imagery was introduced as well. because of their funerary uses that the production of raffia Since funerals are a time of spiritual power and connection mats persisted when most other raffia art forms fell out of to the world of the dead, the visual representations on the use after the dissolution of the Kongo Kingdom in the late mats, like the iconography of their earlier counterparts, could eighteenth century. Overall, textiles continued to play a large be used both to explain and understand Kongo cosmological role in funerals. In one study of the coastal Boma region, beliefs and to demonstrate the deceased’s status. Taking two Scrag notes conspicuous consumption habits among the examples from the Royal Museum for Central Africa’s large new nobility. Traders spent their acquired wealth on objects collection of raffia funerary mats, it is possible to see how that clearly showed their status, and this included cloth.28 mats continue the geometric patterns but also introduced In addition to amassing objects, the most opulent display of new designs—all of which present similar messages of pres- wealth one could make was in the context of lavish funerals, tige and status. burials, and gravesite decoration. Funerals could be delayed The first example shows the intersection between geo- for years while the heirs secured the amount of cloth to metric and figurative designs and also describes the funerary wrap the body.29 process (Figure 8). Two past studies one by Coppée and Although Scrag focuses on the collection of European another by Mantuba-Ngoma help to explain such compli- cloth in the Boma region, the continued use of raffia mats cated imagery.33 The central image on the mat shows a large in the niombo mummy bundles of the Bembe people (far- mummy bundle. Boxes at the center represent the body of ther north) suggests that raffia mats remained important in the deceased. The interlocked cross pattern in the center of the context of burials. The practice of wrapping bodies in the coffin is intended to represent the presence of the body. Art,” in The Four Moments of the Sun: Kongo Arts in Two Worlds, 31 Martin, “Power Cloth and Currency,” 6. exhibition catalogue, ed. Robert Farris Thompson and Joseph Cornet (Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1981), 52. 32 The idea of the mats evoking or recalling the history triggers a question of a possible connection to the whole history (and therefore ances- 27 MacGaffey, “The Eyes of Understanding,” 31. tors and past kingdom). For example, Kuba barkcloth is not used in everyday, but it references ancestors. It is used to decorate the Ngwadi 28 Norman Schrag, Changing Perceptions of Wealth among the Bamboma, a moosh mask—an ancestor mask. However, I do not view that the ed. Phyllis Martin (Bloomington, IN: African Studies Program, Indiana mats functioned in this manner. Yes, they reference Kongo spiritual University, 1990), 3. ideas, but I do not think that it is possible to assert that they function as a representative of the entire Kongo history. 29 Schrag, Changing Perceptions of Wealth, 21-22. 33 R. P. Coppée, “La Veillée Funèbre,” Brousse 9 (1956): 25–26; and 30 Thompson, “Kongo Civilization,” 62-66. Mabiala Mantuba-Ngoma, Frauen, Kunsthandwerk und Kultur bei den Yombe in Zaïre (Göttingen: Edition Re, 1989), 290-291.

86 creativity in the congo free state: nineteenth and twentieth-century funerary mats

This interlocking pattern is almost identical to patterns found to show the connection with European luxury goods and the on earlier textiles. The whole coffin assemblage seems to be affluence of the deceased. Bottles were often left on graves carried by the two figures connected to it via lines. The red to honor the deceased.38 The depiction of bottles shows squares over the bundle’s shoulders represent the wives of this important connection to the spiritual world, but also the deceased. The dots in the center of the lozenges indicate recognizes status and wealth. that the wives are crying. The bundle is surrounded by fig- Finally, the geometric motifs and raffia material itself ures in mourning. The clasping of the hands over the head cannot be ignored in analysis. The historic importance and indicates extreme mourning (as opposed to simply grasping meaning of geometric patterns persists in the lozenges placed behind the neck that indicates only a lesser degree of mourn- beneath the leopard and to the right of the image. The his- ing).34 One hand raised and one hand pointing to the ground tory of the meaning of raffia as a much-coveted material signals a connection of the world of the living to the spirit and one that denotes exalted position must be taken into world.35 One must also note the appearance of the inverted consideration. Fine textiles and clothing were available only figures. These could refer to simbi spirits, below the kalunga to the chiefs and the elite. Thus, the fact that this mat is made line, in other words, the realm of the spirits. With all of this from raffia and that it includes geometric patterns along with imagery, the scene supports ideas similar to those enacted figuration, reminds us of the long-standing identification of in actual niombo practices. The deceased has great wealth raffia with wealth and status. (as seen through the creation of his mummy and elaborate What we can ascertain from an examination of these funeral), but he is also connected to the spiritual world (as three examples (Figures 4, 8 and 9) is that raffia textiles con- seen in the mourner’s poses and use of geometric patterning). tinued as a means of marking status and making spiritual and The funerary scene seems an obvious choice for an political statements throughout Kongo history. In the seven- object used in the funeral setting. What is less obvious is teenth century, finely woven raffia textiles served as markers the use of other imagery to reflect similar ideas of status of royal status and the complex geometric designs focused and spirituality. In Figure 9, all elements of the image refer on the interconnectivity of the living and spirit realms. For to the deceased’s status and point to the deceased’s spiritual that time period, records do not indicate how such textiles connection. The leopard is associated with many aspects of or how lesser mats may have been used in funerals or com- status. Mantuba-Ngoma documents numerous proverbs that memoration. As raffia textiles fell out of use, and as the illustrate a ruler’s obligation to keep serving his people so Kingdom crumbled, chiefs continued the use of certain raffia that they will not wander away or act against him, as they textile ideas (such as using mpu caps to indicate status). The did when the leopard ran away, wildcats took over and the use of raffia mats in funerals and their placement on graves hens cackled at him.36 The leopard is also an animal that can however demonstrate more explicitly this continuity. Like touch the spirit world. Because of this status, many Kongo the historic textiles, mats displayed the status and spirituality objects relating to chiefs contain references to leopards. of the deceased. However, these ideas were conveyed by Some mpu caps and other headdresses employ leopard using new, figurative imagery in combination with geometric claws. Chiefs’ and kings’ thrones are placed atop leopard patterns of the past. pelts. Some carved ivory pendants were created in the shape Connecting these mats to past Kongo practices—but also of leopard claws. The leopard signals the king’s prestigious recognizing their innovation—creates a view of the Kongo role in this world and his spiritual connection. The leopard people that is in opposition to mainstream understanding is believed to be able to move between worlds. The chief is of the time period. Descriptions of early twentieth-century even sometimes viewed as a leopard, able to communicate Congo are full of stories of severe oppression and terror. between the living world and the world of the dead.37 Thus, While history cannot deny that these horrific events took the appearance of the leopard here shows the deceased’s place, credit is due to the Kongo people and artists: they were status and spiritual connection. not completely defeated. They upheld their past traditions The bottles depicted play dual roles as well. Bottles and continued to innovate. could be containers to store spirits and were often placed on graves. Additionally, objects, such as gin bottles, served University of Florida

34 K.E. Laman, The Kongo (Upsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, 1953), 36 Mabiala Mantuba-Ngoma, Frauen, Kunsthandwerk und Kultur, 279. I:43-44; Robert Farris Thompson, African Art in Motion: Icon and Act (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1974), 73 ; and MacGaffey, 37 Thompson, “Kongo Civilization,” 34. “The Eyes of Understanding,” 86. 38 MacGaffey, “The Eyes of Understanding,” 61; Robert Farris Thompson, 35 Thompson, “Kongo Civilization,” 63-64. “The Structure of Recollection: The Kongo New World Visual Tradi- tion,” in Four Moments of the Sun, 179-180.

87 athanor xxxii carlee s. forbes

IN TilE RUBBER COILS.

p[above, left] Figure 1. Linley Sambourne, “In the Rubber Coils,” 1906, Punch. Public Domain.

p[above, right] Figure 2. Mat, c. 18th century, Kongo peoples, Democratic Republic of Congo/Angola, raffia fiber, 20.4 x 21.65 inches. Collection of the British Museum, Af, SLMisc.424.

t[left] Figure 3. Chief’s headdress (mpu), late 19th century, Kongo peoples, Lower Congo, DRC, vegetal fiber, leopard claws, 13.2 x 7.1 inches. Collection of Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.0.0.17797.

88 creativity in the congo free state: nineteenth and twentieth-century funerary mats

Figure 4. Woven Mat with geometric patterns, early 20th century, Kongo peoples, Boma, Lower Congo, DRC. vegetal fiber, 41.33 x 63.78 inches. Collection of Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.0.0.29225.

Cimetiere indigene du Bas-Congo,

Bruxelles, Serie 14- No._ 52------~------~~------• ~~ Figure 5. Congo-Belge Cemetery Postcard, early 20th century. Collection of Holly W. Ross. 89 athanor xxxii carlee s. forbes

Figure 6. Photograph of a Niombo mummy bundle, early 20th century, Photographic Archives of the Royal Museum for Central Africa, Teruvren, Belgium, AP.0.2.13219.

Figure 7. Photograph of a Yombe tomb with bottles, human figures, a European textile, and a woven mat, 1925, Mayombe, Lower Congo, DRC. Photographic Archives of the Royal Museum for Central Africa, Teruvren, Belgium, AP.0.0.5111. 90 creativity in the congo free state: nineteenth and twentieth-century funerary mats

Figure 8. Mat with funerary scene reproduced in Émile Jean Baptiste Coart and Alphonse de Haulleville, Notes analytiques sur les collection ethnographiques du Musée du Congo. T. II. Les industries indigènes. F.II Les Nattes (Tervueren: Spineux, 1927), plate 50. Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.0.29227.

Figure 9. Woven mat with leopard and bottles, Kongo peoples, early 20th century, Luvituku, Lower Congo, DRC, vegetal fiber, 44.1 x 60.63 cm. Collection of Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.0.0.29259.

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