The trading house is a two-story buiding, often on stilts or piles, built by European merchants. Some had balconies mounted with guns to discourage thieves. Wealthy Kongo clans residing in major trading ports built similar structures as symbols of status and prestige. The tiers or registers on Kongo ceramic grave objects recall such houses.

The motif of intersecting diamond-shaped boxes with dots in the center carved underneath the roof is similar to designs found on Kongo raffia pile cloth and on Kongo works associated with the afterlife, including the famous Kongo ceramic grave objects. On the latter works, the motif represents a cemetery in which each dot within the diamond epitomizes a spirit or missing member of the clan. This motif is used extensively on the tusk.

Behind the house a man is hoisting a banner, which carries another motif--a circle surrounded by smaller circles. This design is also found on Kongo ceramic grave objects where the larger circle, representing the deceased, is perforated. The smaller circles suggest followers of the buried person moving in a circle around his spirit.

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