steatite (soapstone) figure from Angola. According to Italian documents, mintadi figures were brought to the Museo Preistorico Etnografico Luigi Pigorini (Luigi Pigorini Prehistoric Ethnographic Museum) in Rome by missionaries from Africa in the 17th century. Traditional mintadi, similar to those antique figures, were still being carved centuries later.

Mintadi, kneeling or seated, were created for the purpose of guarding the graves of ancestors. They also served as portraits of the buried kings and chiefs, as evidenced by emblematic identifications carved on the headdresses.