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Kumbi Bed Panel: Six Seated Figures and Dog
Not on view
The process of defining a woman’s social identity in precolonial western Kongo communities is the subject of the imagery of this carved panel. Following a girl’s initial menstrual cycle, her betrothal might be negotiated between a suitor and her maternal uncle (khazi). Once gifts of palm wine and a down payment on the dowry were provided, she was isolated in the kumbi nzo (a house of seclusion outside the village). The interior of the kumbi nzo was decorated with richly colored woven mats, and its centerpiece was a bed with elaborately carved panels like this one that depicts the nude initiates with their future spouses and maternal uncle.
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