Rare ivory miniature depicting Saint Anthony of Kongo – also referred to as “Anthony of Good Fortune”, “Toni Malau”, “Ntony Malau” or “Dontoni Malau” – a remarkable symbol of the Christian movement that emerged within the Kingdom of Kongo in the early part of the 18th century.

The small pendant figure is portrayed with clear local artistic traits; flattened skull that alludes to a tonsure, oval face and almond shaped eyes of prominent lids and unmarked orbits, wide nose and full lips suggesting mild mandibular prognathism. The Saint, wearing the characteristic Franciscan hooded habit, belted at the waist by a knotted cord, holds the Infant Jesus on his left arm and the cross in his right hand. Of identical physiognomical characteristics, the Child points to the cross with the right hand.

The assimilation of the figure of Saint Anthony of Lisbon by the various Congolese peoples’ is closely tied to Portuguese popular beliefs and to the devotion this Saint attracted. Saint Anthony fulfills a major role in the Order of the Friars Minor, to which the Capuchins were related, a most relevant congregation in the Christianization of the Old Kingdom of Kongo.

His cult, mainly assimilated by the indigenous groups that referred to it in Kongolese language as Toni Malau, gave rise to a new religious movement known as “Anthonianism”. Albeit initiated by Portuguese missionaries, this early cult would be intensified by the social crises that followed the Kongolese defeat at Mbwila, assuming messianic aspects by the hand of Kimpa Vita. Originating from the Kingdom capital, Mbanza Kongo, and baptized Beatriz, this priestess had been trained as nganda marinda, a person said to be able to cummunicate with the supernatural world, while simultaneously being indoctrinated into Catholicism.

The visionary founder of this new movement, Beatriz claimed to have died and, on resuscitating, to have been possessed by Saint Anthony. Amongst other prophecies the Saint had commanded her to rebuild the greatness of the Old Kingdom, by then devastated by civil war and weak leadership. In this syncretic current, various catholic concepts were creatively adapted to permit a new reading of the Christian message by the local Bantu / Bakongo peoples. It is such an example the adulteration of the Holy Family biographies: Beatriz’s mystic vision revealed that the Holy Family was in fact African, from Mbanza Kongo rather than from Palestinian Nazareth.

Without ever disputing Rome’s authority, Beatriz disavowed local clergy for distancing themselves from the spiritual needs of the Kongolese people. She converted the “Tony Malau” into the mystic axis of this wide popular movement that proposed redemption in life and the radical Africanization of Christ. Her followers took over Mbanza Kongo, the Kingdom’s capital, dispatching envoys throughout the land and inviting local chieftains to adhere to their project of political rebuilding and reunification.

The “legal” existence of “Anthonianism” was brief. Considered a Messianic cult, Beatriz was charged with rebellion and heresy, trialed and condemned to death by fire in 1706, an outcome determined by the commitment of local dignitaries and the Italian Capuchin Friars Bernardo da Gallo e Lorenzo de Lucca. Following from this event Tony Malau would enter clandestinity.

The cult, as defined by its priestess, reaches syncretic processes that impose strict rituals of amalgamated cultural codes, symbolically represented by small sculptures used for its dissemination, and whose iconography can be better understood in light of a “resignification” or “Congolese Catholicism” phenomenon.

Of the various iconographies of Saint Anthony, it was the one with the Cross and the Child Jesus that inspired the Congolese Tony Malau. This depiction was solidly introduced in Portuguese art from the 16th century, particulalry by Flemish influence, appearing here as Nkisi (a spirit inhabited object) and religious amulet, that protects against illness and other evils.

It was widely believed that these small images had the power of recovering lost and stolen objects, protecting ships and their passengers and crews from shipwrecking, as well as healing when in contact with body areas believed to shelter illness. More importantly, beyond these powers focused on the individual, “Anthonianism” promoted the belief that its followers were the “Chosen People”.

These miniature figures, often evidencing major wear and tear and polished surfaces resulting from intense rubbing, were also worn as powerful protective totems during pregnancy and childbirth.

Congolese figures of Saint Anthony in wood, brass or bronze survive at various Museum collections such as the Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale, Tervuren, Inv. N.o 1955.9.23 and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Inv. N.o 1 999.295.1. The rarest are undoubetdly the ivory made examples, carved in a high status and precious material, that were first mentioned in a list of “ivory objects” sent in 1498 by the Kongo ruler, the “Manikongo”, to the Portuguese king D. João II. In addition to the early 18th century example here described, undoubtedly a treasure of “Anthonianism”, another two are known at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and at the Santo António Museum in Lisbon.