Katanga Copper Crosses

• Title Katanga Copper Crosses
• Category Utilitarian
• Medium Copper
• Dimensions 9.25"h x 9"w
• Year Completed Undated
• Description For centuries, the Katanga region of Congo has been an important source of copper. By 1400 A.D. two distinctive types had been developed; the first was shaped like an "H"; the other was formed like an "X." Both were made by pouring molten copper into a depression formed in sand. Fourteenth-century burial sites in Katanga suggest that the crosses were used as emblems of wealth and prestige by the political elite. By the 16th and 17th centuries the crosses had also acquired the function of exchange, especially for long-distance trade. While newly minted copper crosses are readily available in Katanga, the two crosses pictured here came from Wembo Nyama, a chiefdom located in the center of Congo just south of the equator. Wembo Nyma is about 1,000 kilometers northwest of Katanga’s copper producing region, and roughly 500 kilometers northwest of the capital of the Luba empire. These distances are evidence of the reach of trade on Congo’s southern savanna.
• Artist congo
• Credit John and Janet Yoder Collection
• Location Library Art Storage H6
• Accession Number 2022.0194.a-b
• Status Available Request this art work
  
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