INGOT CROSS (Zaire)

(February 1998)

INGOT CROSS. (56K) Cast copper. Kasai Province, Zaire, 1880s-1910.

DESCRIPTION

Copper X-shaped ingots are often called "Katanga crosses," named after a region in Africa along the Kasai River in Zaire, one of the areas where they have been found. Called handa, they are the classic currency associated with the region. The ingots weigh anywhere from around one half pound to some two and half pounds, but their exact value in units of weight is unknown.

For centuries these crosses served as indications of wealth and were used as bridewealth payments, trade, and currency. And, since they have been found in burials, they have also been associated with ritualization. Large crosses were convenient for stacking in royal treasuries and for transporting to areas of heavy demand. The Congolese regarded the non-ferrous metals -- copper, lead, and tin -- as very precious materials. Metals were a widespread means of exchange and important in settling social contracts, such as marriage. Early in this century, one cross might purchase five to six chickens, two lengths of good fabric, eight to nine pounds of rubber, or six axes.

CHRISTIAN ORIGINS

Crosses were introduced by early Portuguese missionaries, who brought their Christian faith to Africa in the 15th century. Although cross shapes predate the advent of Christianity in the Congo, the handa may have been associated with the new religion due to its form. The Portuguese arrived with the belief that Christianity would help to control tribal and clanic power and establish a theocratic state, as well as further a profitable trade with the people of the Congo. The Kingdom of Congo, one of several modest states located south of the River Zaire, welcomed the first Portuguese sailors in 1482.

In the early 16th century, Portugal proposed that the kingdom become a Christian monarchy. Various local Congolese rulers converted, including the king of Congo, who was baptized into the faith.

Christian religious objects were adapted and produced by local artists, including bronze crucifixes and figures of the Virgin. Elaborate crucifixes were regarded as symbols of prestige. These "magical objects" were adapted by Congolese artists to their own esthetic purposes.

CASTING THE INGOTS

From very early periods, people in the Congo knew how to work copper. African crucifixes were cast by the lost-wax process or by the process known as "open at the top," the most common method.

In open-faced casting, the metalworker basically melts the copper to a temperature of 1,083 degrees Centigrade in a clay crucible. He pours the molten metal into a cross-shaped open mold of clay, stone, or a hollow depression in the ground. When the metal hardens and cools, he removes the metal from its setting. He may then polish the rougher side that had been exposed to air during the casting. Some crosses were cast by a double mold process as well.

A GIFT FOR THE BRIDE

In African society, "bride price" involves the giving of tangible property as gifts when a couple are to be married. There is an economic factor connected to this tradition, as this passage of goods redistributes property. Also classified as bridewealth, the marriage gifts by the groom or his kin passes to the bride's family. The payments range in amount, low or high, and are generally cattle, goats, cowrie shells, and metal objects -- such as this ingot cross.

Bridewealth forms a societal fund or circulating pool of resources -- a movement that relates to the rights over spouses, usually women.

A dowry, on the other hand, is part of a familial or marital fund, which passes down from holder to heir, and usually from parents to the daughter. In other words, a dowry becomes a type of female inheritance.

McClung Homepage		Exhibition Archive Page