Box

AF509A

From: Zaire | Belgian Congo | Kasai District

Curatorial Section: African

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Object Number AF509A
Current Location Collections Storage
Culture Bushongo
Provenience Zaire | Belgian Congo | Kasai District
Section African
Materials Wood
Description

Crescent shaped. The boxes shaped like a crescent or a half-moon have, most of them, been used to contain the red camwood pigment .All the boxes of whatever shape were used either for this purpose or for the safekeeping of small objects. The five branched deisgn in the middle of the lid represents a harp. The zizzag lines on each side of this are called bisha ngila wild cat's back. The biscected lozenges are pasi, cowries. On the convex edge of the lid is seen nyinga, smoke (or lukata), on the concave edge, two forms of namba, knot. The convex side of the box shoes imbolo, a simple basket weave, and shamba, chequer weave; the concave side has tamberi koko, fowl's feet, bisha ngila and shamba. Bushongo, Kasai- Sankuru River, Southwestern Belgian Congo.

Credit Line Purchased from J. F. G. Umlauff, 1912
Other Number 592 - Original Number

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