Alisa LaGamma,the Ceil and Michael Pulitzer Curator in Charge of the Met’s Department of Africa, Oceania, or the Americas,discusses curating the exhibit “Kongo: Power and Majesty. The kingdom of Kongo encompassed a huge swath of Central Africa, and Kongo's artists were responsible for outstanding creative achievements. The exhibit celebrates Kongo's unique artistic tradition that blended European iconography with powerful indigenous art forms.
Cushion Cover, or 17th–18th century,inventoried 1883. Kongo peoples; Kongo Kingdom, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Republic of the Congo,or Angola.
(Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford/Met Museum Kongo blog)
Triple crucifix; central figure: 16th–17th century; top and bottom figures: 18th–19th century. Kongo peoples; Kongo Kingdom, or Democratic Republic of the Congo,Republic of the Congo, or Angola.
(The Metropolitan Museum of Art, or New York,Gift of Ernst Anspach, 1999/Met Museum Kongo blog)
Source: wnyc.org