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Figure: Seated Female Supporting Figure with Clasped Hands

19th–early 20th century, inventoried 1913
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
Collected several decades earlier than the figure acquired by the Protestant missionary Léo Bittremieux, this work differs only in a few details such as the cicatrization motifs emblazoned on the front and back of the upper torso. Referred to as zitsamba, this repertoire of bodily signs was intended to make women more desirable and glamorous. Drawn on the surface of the skin with ashes and then inscribed with a needle and a knife, this form of bodily adornment confirmed a woman’s courage and strength to endure physical pain.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Figure: Seated Female Supporting Figure with Clasped Hands
  • Artist: Master of Kasadi
  • Date: 19th–early 20th century, inventoried 1913
  • Geography: Democratic Republic of the Congo; Republic of the Congo; Cabinda, Angola
  • Culture: Kongo peoples; Yombe group
  • Medium: Wood (Nauclea latifolia Smith), glass, kaolin
  • Dimensions: H. 11 1/4 in. (28.5 cm), W. 5 in. (12.8 cm), D. 4 3/4 in. (12 cm)
  • Classification: Wood-Sculpture
  • Credit Line: Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium

  • Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing