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Staff Finial:Kneeling Figure with Feline Head

19th 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.
Some Kongo chiefly staff finials fantastically fuse human physiognomy with zoomorphic attributes. In this example, a kneeling female human body is crowned by the head of a fierce feline with open jaws that expose sharp pointed teeth. These halves are spanned by a necklace of cowries associated with wealth and prosperity. While Kongo leaders generally adopted the leopard as emblematic of leadership, the stylized mane depicted may refer to that of a lion, an animal not indigenous to the Lower Congo but introduced instead by way of European heraldic imagery.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Staff Finial:Kneeling Figure with Feline Head
  • Date: 19th century
  • Geography: Democratic Republic of the Congo; Republic of the Congo; Angola, Cabinda
  • Culture: Kongo peoples
  • Medium: Ivory, stone
  • Dimensions: H. 7 1/2 in. (19 cm), W. 2 1/8 in. (5.5 cm), D. 2 3/8 in. (6 cm)
  • Classification: Bone/Ivory-Sculpture
  • Credit Line: The National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; Gift of Walt Disney World Co., a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company (2005-6-33)

  • Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing