FEATURE 638, #345) about the Baptist missionary George Grenfell, the photographer of this construction. In it, representations of six individuals are arranged on panels side by side. From left to right they are: a traditional chief, a woman in traditional 128 feast attire, a European man, a woman giving birth, a naked man (possibly an initiate), and one more unidentifiable person. This imagery shows clear parallels with the bikaku panels known from the Nkanu. Study reveals that the representation of a young African woman, whether well-dressed, pregnant, or at the point of giving birth, normally was placed near the image of a Westerner (a missionary or Belgian colonial administrator), suggesting that the white man is in love with or has had an affair with the black woman. When depicted as pregnant, she brings her palms together on her belly to communicate with the baby inside her womb. The white man usually holds one hand above the other. In Grenfell’s photograph, both characters have their hands in the air. One such wooden panel sold at Christie’s, London, on May 13, 1980, as lot 269A (fig. 26). It depicts a European man and remarkable is the fact that this piece shares almost identical measurements (H: 57.5 and 58 cm) as the panel with the female figure in the BM collection. The Christie’s example was also brought to the West by a member of the BMS and the figure is carved in a similar style with rounded forms and a delicate rendering of the physiognomic details. It is not unreasonable to suppose that both came from the same kikaku wall. Conclusion In literature it often appears that there are similarities between Yaka and Zombo art. The major likeness lies in the context and in the finishing of the sculpted object with paint. Indeed, because of their use of polychrome, the art of the Nkanu, Yaka, and Zombo sometimes receives the denomination of “folk art.” However, Zombo sculptures generally are endowed with great sculptural refinement. This may reflect the fact that the Zombo tend to possess a particular delicacy of facial features. This was noted by Henry Morton Stanley (1899: 329), who attributed it to the mixing of indigenous and Portuguese blood. He recommends that “the Bakongo and Bazombo are worthy of particular study for their good looks and clear brown complexions.” Approaching the question from a more modern perspective, it is perhaps more reasonable to assume that this refinement is a reflection of the well-known court art that was created in the Kingdom of Kongo, with which the Zombo have a long shared history. Ultimately, the masks and panels in the British Museum and the few others that survive elsewhere represent a link to the former great kingdom, characters from which continued to be put on “stage” as part of the nkanda/longo of the Nkanu and the Zombo. longo style. When it is ready, the open front of the kikaku is covered with palm leaves. The subsequent “unveiling” happens in the presence of the neophytes, who are then confronted with the representations on the panels. These refer to human sexuality and cosmological activity. In Kongo belief, the cycle of human life is linked to the larger cycle of the universe, although specialists are able to manipulate this cyclical process. These same specialists are also responsible for the fluid development of the nkanda/longo ritual, at the end of which the boys are supposed to “resuscitate.” In doing so, they cross the frontier between childhood (infertile) and adulthood (fertile), between death and life, and between the spiritual world and the world of the living. This also explains the construction’s name, kikaku (a symbolic barrier), as well as its liminal location. A photograph of a “roadside shrine on the Zombo Plateau” (fig. 25)28 can be found in a book co-authored by British explorer and colonial administrator Sir Henry “Harry” Hamilton Johnston (Johnston et al. 1908/1969: FIG. 18 (below left): Nlongo mask. Zombo, Kibokolo, Uíge Province, Angola. Early 20th century. Wood, fiber, pigment. H: 59 cm. Collected by the Rev. Thomas Lewis. Donated by the Baptist Missionary Society, 1919. Collection of the British Museum, London, f1919,-.6. © The Trustees of the British Museum. FIG. 19 (below): Nlongo mask. Zombo, Kibokolo, Uíge Province, Angola. Early 20th century. Wood, fiber, pigment. H: 51 cm. Collected by the Rev. Thomas Lewis. Donated by the Baptist Missionary Society, 1919. Collection of the British Museum, London, Af1919,-.5. © The Trustees of the British Museum. FIG. 20 (above): Nlongo mask. Zombo, Angola. Early 20th century. Wood, fiber, pigment. H: 67 cm. Purchased from J. N. Schmitt, 1953. Collection of the British Museum, London, Af1953,02.2. © The Trustees of the British Museum.
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