Kishikishi, large female statues, used to adorn the roofs of the houses of chiefs. More than power symbols, they were genuine ritual objects that were meant to protect both the chief and society.

In the 1940s, Kaseya Ntambwe developed a new model of kishikishi: a mother carrying her child on her hips. Perhaps the artist was inspired by the iconography of the Virgin Mary with the Christ Child, but his style was very different, with more realistic proportions and softer features. The statues were popular with both Pende chiefs and European colonizers.

Later, Ntambwe was the facilitator of one of the ‘Ateliers Sociaux d’Art Indigène du Sud-Kasaï’, founded by Robert Verly in the 1950s. But before he started to produce studio pieces and even serial work for European clients, his ritual art enjoyed recognition at the heart of the traditional Pende universe.