The

Kongo Congo or The Congo may refer to either of two countries that border the Congo River in central Africa: * Democratic Republic of the Congo, the larger country to the southeast, capital Kinshasa, formerly known as Zaire, sometimes referred to a ...

place stone figures called tumba (a Ki-Kongo word, pl. bitumba) on the graves of powerful people. Bitumba were created in

Zaire Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, ...

and

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

during the nineteenth century and the first part of the twentieth. The term tumba comes from the Kikongo word "tumbama" which means "to be placed or set before". In the Punu language of the neighbouring

Republic of Congo The Republic of the Congo (french: République du Congo, ln, Republíki ya Kongó), also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply either Congo or the Congo, is a country located in the western coast of Central Africa to the w ...

, the word itumbe means "image, engraving, statue", showing a relation.Parlons Yipunu, pg.152
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Materials and Dimensions

Bitumba were executed in soft stone. Their average height it close to 50 centimeters; the smallest bitumba measure between 15 and 20 centimeters and the largest are approximately a meter in height.

Historiography

Artist Robert Verly gathered a large number of statues in the north of Angola near the Zaire border and, in the May 1955 issue of Zaire, he classified the objects by type and proposed an explanation for their use. In July 1978, the Institut des Musees Nationaux du

at the Center for International Commerce of Zaire in

Kinshasa Kinshasa (; ; ln, Kinsásá), formerly Léopoldville ( nl, Leopoldstad), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages situated along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one o ...

mounted an exhibition of 72 bitumba called "Sculptures Stones from Lower Zaire."

Styles and Themes

Bitumba sculptures are unique in their variety of styles. Robert Farris Thompson has identified about twenty workshops that explain stylistic individuality. The wide dispersal of the works, however, has made it impossible to localize their centers of production. Bitumba are express a variety of themes. The most widely found - about twenty percent of statues belong to this type - is a figure who raises his hands in front of his face in a gesture often interpreted as praying. The second most prevalent theme is that of mother and child. The art of Lower Zaire, and especially the art of

Mayombe Mayombe (or Mayumbe) is a geographic area on the western coast of Africa occupied by low mountains extending from the mouth of the Congo River in the south to the Kouilou-Niari River to the north. The area includes parts of the Democratic Republi ...

, is known for privileging

maternity ] A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gestati ...

subjects. The third theme is that of the "thinker," who holds on hand on the hip and the other pressed to check in an attitude of meditation.

References

{{Kongo religion footer, state=collapsed African art African sculpture Kingdom of Kongo Kongo culture Kongo religion