chief’s tunic or cape

This kinzembe or zamba kya mfumu is a type of ceremonial garment from Central Africa worn by Kongo nobles and chiefs for over 400 years. This tunic was likely made in the nineteenth century in southern Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, using a process that transforms elemental raffia fiber into cloth. Individual raffia palm fiber filaments become a column of twisted yarn and then woven cloth, symbolizing the fundamental principles of Kongo thought associated with threes: the three-part passage through birth, life, and death, the three-stepped throne and tomb of ruler and three levels of the cosmos.

Vanessa Drake Moraga (Author), Weaving Abstraction: Kuba Textiles and the Woven Art of Central Africa, The Textile Museum, Washington, D.C., 2011, pp. 22-24, cat. no. 1

Sumru Belger Krody (Co-Author) and Shelley Burian (Co-Author) and Lee Talbot (Co-Author) and Karthika Audinet (Contributor) and Carol M. Bier (Contributor) and Walter B. Denny (Contributor) and Barbara G. Fraser (Contributor) and David W. Fraser (Contributor) and Mariachiara Gasparini (Contributor) and Mattiebelle Gittinger (Contributor) and Louise W. Mackie (Contributor) and Ann Pollard Rowe (Contributor) and Rebecca A. T. Stevens (Contributor), Textile Treasures: Highlights from The Textile Museum Collection and the Cotsen Traces Study Collection, Hali Publications Ltd., 2025, 1 ed., 154-157

Intrinsic Beauty: Celebrating the Art of Textiles, The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum, Washington DC, February 22, 2025 - June 14, 2025

Fabrics of Africa: Apparel for Man and Gods South of the Sahara, The Textile Museum, Washington DC, September 16, 1988 - February 12, 1989

Weaving Abstraction: Kuba Textiles and the Woven Art of Central Africa, October 15, 2011 - February 12, 2012

Unraveling Identity: Our Textiles, Our Stories, March 21, 2015 - August 24, 2015