Ancestral Shrine Figure: Kneeling Female with Vessel and Seated Figure
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.This figure and the closely related one adjacent may have been carved by the same workshop. In both, the woman adopts a distinctive stance in which she kneels so that her right knee is folded under her and her left knee is raised. She places her hand in a black vessel to her right, and a miniature male figure is seated on her left foot. He grasps her calf and crosses his arms against his chest as an indication of grief in a mourning context. In Kikongo the term kinzu refers to an earthenware pot or a calabash container. In Kongo myth, the first medicine was brought from heaven by a culture hero who prepared it in an earthenware kinzu.
Artwork Details
- Title: Ancestral Shrine Figure: Kneeling Female with Vessel and Seated Figure
- Date: 19th–early 20th century
- Geography: Democratic Republic of the Congo; Republic of the Congo
- Culture: Kongo peoples, Yombe group
- Medium: Wood, glass, black paint, kaolin
- Dimensions: H. 21 7/8 in. (55.5 cm), W. 10 in. (25.5 cm), D. 10 in. (25.5 cm)
- Classification: Wood-Sculpture
- Credit Line: Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven; Charles B. Benenson, B.A. 1933, Collection
- Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing