Crucifix

Crucifixes served both spiritual and social needs in Kongo society. Associated with Christianity, they marked individual and communal access to a newfound religion. Christianity and its symbols were also closely connected to transatlantic trade and to the ruling class, and thus could assert the wealth and authority of individuals who wielded such emblems. Their connection to the divine also allowed them to function as powerful amulets. They might be maintained on shrines, displayed at burials, and engaged as part of daily life to address issues ranging from illness and infertility to the broader dangers presented by travel, weather, and social conflict.




The arrival of Portuguese navigator Diogo Cão at the estuary of the Congo River in 1483 inaugurated contact between two world leaders: the Kongo sovereign Nzinga a Nkwu (r. ca. 1420–1509) and King João II of Portugal (r. 1481–85). Within a decade, Nkwu elected to be baptized as João I. His court embraced literacy and adapted Christianity to their own cosmology.



Portuguese missions to the Kongo Kingdom brought with them a range of material culture, including crucifixes and images of saints. By the sixteenth century, Kongo artists were adopting and adapting these forms to regional styles and systems of belief. The cross already held meaning in Kongo religion as a sign of the universe and the cycle of life and so was easily integrated into existing practices. Known as dikenga dia Kongo (circle of Kongo), the cross served as a cosmological diagram for the perceived positions of the Sun relative to Earth’s horizon and as a metaphor for the progression through birth, death, the spiritual realm, and rebirth.




Elements of Kongo design are evident in this example in the stylized figure of Christ, who is depicted with wide, almond-shaped eyes and flattened hands and feet. However, the artist has strategically foregrounded European motifs through the inclusion of the Virgin Mary and a cherub head and wings at the base of the composition.