FEATURE to the commemoration of tutelary ancestors and other spirits for the purpose of seeking their spiritual intervention in assisting with human needs and concerns. Diviners and other ritual experts held countless forms of figurative ancestral representations as part of their divination 110 and healing kits, commissioned as amulets, or as part of potential medicines they could prescribe for clients.3 The common denominator for the majority of these hamba anthropomorphic carvings was a geometric form of stylization, with “schematized” elements and a play on body proportions, including the face details (fig. 10). Chokwe ancestral and divination arts still retain those qualities, yet at the end of the nineteenth century another stylistic trend evolved in relation to the arts of paramount rulers, chiefs, and others who had amassed wealth through business and trade. Chokwe court art, as opposed to people’s art, became quite elaborate as prestige and status forms including scepters, ornate figurative thrones and stools, and particularly figures of chiefs were created to commemorate important lineages through royal and historical characters. Within those parameters, there was increased exploration of naturalism, sometimes approaching portraiture, as exemplified by certain known Chokwe chief figures (fig. 12).4 Pwo, like other Chokwe masks, became well established as forms of “people’s art” at the same time in the FIG. 6 (above): Pwo mask showing a balance of stylized and naturalistic features. Chokwe, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Wood, fiber, shell, cloth, pigment, beads. Private collection, Brussels. FIG. 7 (right): Pwo mask showing a balance of stylized and naturalistic features. Chokwe, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Wood, fiber, beads, pigment, metal. Mr. and Mrs. James J. Ross Collection. Photo: John Bigelow Taylor. FIG. 5 (left): Pwo mask featuring fully carved tripartite coiffure and bas relief scarification marks. Chokwe, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Wood, fiber, hide, metal, pigment. Private collection, Brussels.
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