Description

Carved wooden comb with six teeth and handle in the shape of a human head with a pointed headdress. Combs such as these were used for hair grooming, hair adornment and as personal objects of status.

The Reverend T. Hope Morgan of Toronto worked with the Congo Balola Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1891 to 1911. During his long career in Central Africa, he often visited isolated Protestant mission posts by steamship, because many of the stations were on the Congo River or its major tributaries. His collection was made during the last days of the independent Kuba kingdom, as Belgian colonial rule was being established throughout its territory.