Tumba (Kongo)

The Kongo place stone figures called tumba (a Ki-Kongo word, pl.

[1] In the Punu language of the neighbouring Republic of Congo, the word itumbe means "image, engraving, statue", showing a relation.

Robert Farris Thompson has identified about twenty workshops that explain stylistic individuality.

The most widely found - about twenty percent of statues belong to this type - is a figure who raises his hands in front of his face in a gesture often interpreted as praying.

The third theme is that of the "thinker," who holds on hand on the hip and the other pressed to check in an attitude of meditation.