Crown and Ritual: The Royal Insignia of Ngoyo

Nanette Morton teaches English at McMaster University.

In the Musée de l’Homme in Paris, Zdenka Volavka found what appeared
to be a woven copper bowl filled with metal fragments. The “fishing
basket,” as it was labeled, was actually part of the investiture
regalia for the kings of Ngoyo, a small Kongo kingdom just north of the
mouth of the river Zaire in Africa. Whereas royalty is conferred on
kings at birth under the concept of divine kingship, the Ngoyo king was
an ordinary man who was elected and then “ritually transformed by
investiture ceremonies into an exceptional individual capable of ruling
over all.”

Volavka’s interdisciplinary study of the power, composition, and
origin of these objects of investiture and the shrine in which they had
been held draws on art history, history, religious studies, metallurgy,
and anthropology in order to examine their role in Ngoyo society. In
spite of significant regional differences, the exploration of the shrine
and its regalia tells us much about the greater Kongo. The book’s
examination of the production of the royal copper cap and other
investiture materials illuminates the history of metalworking, the
control of copper deposits in the region, and the metalsmiths who formed
a political elite.

Unfortunately, Volavka died before she finished Crown and Ritual. The
book was assembled, edited, and introduced by two of her former
students. Although this results in some lacunae, the book is a
multilayered examination of the precolonial period in African history.