Staff: Finial with Female Figure Nursing Child

19th–early 20th century

Not on view

Returned to lender

This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.

Across Kongo principalities and chieftaincies, an essential attribute of political office and the high power vested in it was an elaborate customized staff featuring a carved wood or ivory figurative finial that referenced the owner’s lineage. The regal and nurturing female figures that occupy a position of distinction at the summit of many chiefly staffs embody an ideal of aesthetic beauty and a profound, collectively held desire for social vitality and renewal.

Artwork Details

Overview

Provenance

Exhibition History

References

Title: Staff: Finial with Female Figure Nursing Child
Date: 19th–early 20th century
Geography: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lukula Territory
Culture: Kongo peoples, Yombe group
Medium: Wood, glass, metal tacks
Dimensions: H. 27 1/2 in. (69.9 cm), W. 2 1/4 in. (5.7 cm), D. 2 1/4 in. (5.7 cm).
Classification: Wood-Sculpture
Credit Line: Karob Collection, Boston
Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing