CMA: African Art

Biteki is the generic name for Yaka figures used as containers for magical ingredients. After being charged by a ritual specialist, they become minkisi, or power objects, and gain the power to either cure or harm. This example, with various leadership accoutrements, likely belongs to the category called phuungu. Placed inside a house, the statuette would have protected against witches and other evil.

Figure https://clevelandart.org/art/1974.201

This beautifully-wrought knife served as a symbol of political authority among the Ngala. Quite literally it signified the power of life and death for its form was derived from that of an executioner's knife.

Knife https://clevelandart.org/art/1916.743

Arguably the finest surviving carving of the Baboon Master in a Western collection, this staff features exceptionally sophisticated articulation and detailing. The circular pokerwork motif on one side—which echoes the treatment of the ears on the male heads supporting the baboon—may represent a shield or a leaf. The heads feature the characteristic ornament that signifies maturity and marriage; covered with a mixture of gum, charcoal, and oil, this hairdo, called <em>isicoco,</em> employed a fiber or sinew ring into which the wearer’s hair was woven.

Staff https://clevelandart.org/art/2010.204

Scepter

Scepter https://clevelandart.org/art/2015.155

Shared by different Akan and Akan-related peoples, including the Asante and Baule, gold ornaments indicate status and wealth and are worn at public festivals by titleholders, chiefs, and kings. Most pectoral disks are suspended over the chest by a white, pineapple-fiber cord. They are owned by the okra, a young official who purifies the chief’s soul--hence, the name akrafokonmu, meaning "soul-washer’s badges" or "soul disks."

Jewelry https://clevelandart.org/art/1935.310

The wealth and power of the Asante kingdom was derived primarily from its massive gold resources. Since at least 1600, small weights in brass and bronze were used to weight gold dust and nuggets. The royal court had the most elaborate store of weights, while commoners often had about a dozen. Their imagery falls into two broad cateogries: geometric and representational. The latter often refers to proverbs, which used judiciously, marked a wise person.

Gold Weight: Geometric https://clevelandart.org/art/1962.244

This is a fine example of art produced for sale to European visitors in the Lower Congo River area. A long history of cultural and artistic interactions between Africans and Europeans began in 1482, when the Portuguese first established diplomatic ties with the rulers of the Kongo kingdoms. Note the image of a foreign merchant pouring whiskey from a keg.

Carved Tooth https://clevelandart.org/art/1969.137

Baton

Baton https://clevelandart.org/art/1992.1046

Patten-type Shoes with Pegs

Patten-type Shoes with Pegs https://clevelandart.org/art/1929.566

This ivory bracelet is simple, yet elegant. Note how the delicate wire repair by a Kuba artisan adds a counterpoint pattern to the original design.

Bracelet https://clevelandart.org/art/1916.538

The most intimate and personal of all Luba objects, pendants made in ivory or bone were originally suspended on a cord or bandolier and typically worn diagonally across the chest of a high-ranking member of society. Often accompanied by amulets, beads, or small antelope horns, they represented ancestral spirits and served as portals to ancestral wisdom and beneficence. The pendants paid tribute to the ancestors and were regularly anointed with oils and worn against the body over many years, which resulted in the erosion of details and a smooth, lustrous surface. Many of these diminutive figures hold their hands to their breasts as a sign of the secrets and wisdom they contain.

Pendant https://clevelandart.org/art/2010.456

Songye figures were used as devices for protection, healing, or therapy. The value of such objects resided in magical substances most commonly concealed in the abdominal cavity or in a horn set into the skull. The mixture of ingredients was meant to solicit the powers of the spirit world. Both the sculpture's height and its gender suggest that it was owned and used by an individual, possibly even a woman. Although some have attributed its particular style—characterized by geometric volumes and an almost Cubist appearance—to a subgroup living along the Sankuru River, the regional attribution of any figure on stylistic grounds is always tentative given the itinerant nature of artists.

Female Figure https://clevelandart.org/art/2010.452

Comparatively speaking, this exceptionally large Teke figure is well preserved: not only does it carry many of its original accouterments and accessories, as well as a crusty and seemingly untouched patina, it also holds a medicine package partly buried in an abdominal cavity. The parcel indicates that the sculpture belonged to the broad and widespread category of power figures labeled by the generic name <em>buti</em>. The figure's size suggests that it stood at the service of a larger group of people and that its powers extended beyond the limits of a village. Its headdress—decorated with coins from the former Belgian Congo under the rule of King Albert I—scarification marks, and beard identify it as representing a chief or another dignitary.

Male Figure https://clevelandart.org/art/2010.430

Carved out of ivory or wood in a variety of shapes, Chokwe whistles often bear miniature, stylized renderings of masks. Cikunza, the "patron saint" of the boys' initiation into manhood, is depicted with a pointed extension imitating the horn of a road antelope, symbolizing the fertility spirit. Typically such whistles were used by men during the hunt to communicate with their co-hunters and to call their dogs. They were either worn attached to a string as a necklace or tied to a spear.

Whistle https://clevelandart.org/art/1915.454

Hungaan figures of this size served as guardians of ritual shrines and functioned in rituals to promote fertility, guarantee well-being, and ensure longevity. The striking crested hairstyle imitates a real coiffure or a wig, indicative of status and prestige. The hands supporting the chin identify the figure as a chief who is immersed in thought and contemplation, pondering over his responsibilities.

Male Figure https://clevelandart.org/art/2003.36

Snuff Container

Snuff Container https://clevelandart.org/art/2010.201

Caryatid Stool

Caryatid Stool https://clevelandart.org/art/1969.9

Figures such as this, known as <em>ofika, </em>were central to the initiation practices and the enforcement of laws among the all-male Lilwa association, a hierarchical organization that served educational, judicial, political, economic, and ritual functions among the Mbole. Meant to instill a moral code and to act as a cautionary symbol during initiation for Lilwa novices, ofika figures are believed to represent criminals who were ritually hanged for transgressions against Lilwa laws. The figure’s encrusted surface imitates how members covered their bodies with a substance made of ashes and palm oil during burial rites.

Male Figure (Ofika) https://clevelandart.org/art/2016.33

Shared by different Akan and Akan-related peoples, including the Asante and Baule, gold ornaments indicate status and wealth and are worn at public festivals by titleholders, chiefs, and kings. Most pectoral disks are suspended over the chest by a white, pineapple-fiber cord. They are owned by the okra, a young official who purifies the chief’s soul--hence, the name akrafokonmu, meaning "soul-washer’s badges" or "soul disks."

Soul Disk Pendant https://clevelandart.org/art/1944.290

The Delenne’s stumbled upon this group of seven anthropomorphic figurines (2010.437–43) in an antiques shop in Nice during a holiday in the south of France in 1961. The carvings carry paperboard labels with inscriptions in French that indicate their ethnic and geographic provenance as well as some other details. Stemming from the Kongo region in West Central Africa, these seven sculptures feature a variety of gestures and poses, the use of mirror or glass for the eyes, and a red-white-black color scheme. They belong to the broad category of <em>minkisi</em> (singular <em>nkisi</em>), containers for medicines in which an ancestral spirit was believed to reside. Two of the group are minkisi of the <em>nduda</em> type, characterized by the attached "guns" loaded with gunpowder and used to shoot witches.

Figurine https://clevelandart.org/art/2010.440

Relatively short sticks were traditionally used for hunting and fighting and are customarily called knobkerries. The name refers to the characteristic spherical knob of wood or head atop a cylindrical shaft. The knobs could be decorated with copper or brass studs or carved in various shapes and forms. This heavily patinated non-figurative club, with its sliced-off spherical knob, exemplifies a classic Zulu style.

Club ("Knobkerrie") https://clevelandart.org/art/2010.232

Helmet Mask

Helmet Mask https://clevelandart.org/art/1935.304

This snuff container is made of a mixture of hide scrapings, blood, and earth modeled over a clay core and removed after hardening into a leathery material. Both the object’s materials—derived from animals that had been sacrificed to the ancestors—and its purpose—used to store tobacco snuff to be offered to the ancestors—refer to the communication between animals and humans common among southern African cattle herders.

Snuff Container https://clevelandart.org/art/2016.60

Pipe

Pipe https://clevelandart.org/art/2010.199

Fertility figures like these were used during the initiation ceremonies of pubescent girls. Integrating talismanic materials in their fabrication, the figures were meant to guarantee fertility and prevent or cure barrenness--a gourd’s womblike shape and the seeds within symbolize fecundity. They are sometimes also called "child figures" because a young bride would care for them as she would for her future children, carrying them on her back and sleeping with them until her first child was born. [Constantine Petridis Cleveland Museum of Art, (4/16/11-2/26/12); "The Art of Daily Life: Portable Objects from Southeast Africa"]

Fertility Figure https://clevelandart.org/art/2010.208

Dagger

Dagger https://clevelandart.org/art/1916.723

Male Figure

Male Figure https://clevelandart.org/art/1974.186

Whether female or male, Beembe figurines generally have greatly detailed anatomical and decorative features—especially hairstyles and abdominal scarification marks—as well as a shiny, lustrous patina. The characteristic scars that were in vogue among Beembe men and women until the 1950s communicated their ideas about local beauty and ethnic belonging. Used to protect its owner’s well-being, such a Beembe figurine was charged with an ancestor’s spirit or life force through a mixture of resin and mostly human-derived ingredients taken from the corpse of the person it possibly portrays; the substance was inserted into a small cavity near the sculpture’s rectum. The staring eyes, made with shards of white porcelain, allude to the figurine’s ability to access the realm of the dead.

Female Figurine https://clevelandart.org/art/2010.429

The Delennes stumbled upon this group of seven anthropomorphic figurines (2010.437–43) in an antique shop in Nice during a holiday in the south of France in 1961. The carvings carry paperboard labels with inscriptions in French that indicate their ethnic and geographic provenance as well as some other details. Stemming from the Kongo region in West Central Africa, these seven sculptures feature a variety of gestures and poses, the use of mirror or glass for the eyes, and a red-white-black color scheme. They belong to the broad category of <em>minkisi</em> (singular <em>nkisi</em>), containers for medicines in which an ancestral spirit was believed to reside. Two of the group are minkisi of the <em>nduda</em> type, characterized by the attached "guns" loaded with gunpowder and used to shoot witches.

Figurine https://clevelandart.org/art/2010.442

Its visual impact and workmanship suggest that this figure was used by an extended family rather than an individual. The raffia skirt around the waist and the blue and white beads are indicators of leadership. The metal appliqué covering the face and the metal blades that hedge the headgear refer to the blacksmith, a culture hero celebrated in a Songye myth narrating the formation of the state. The metal strips on the skeletal face are said to relate to lightning, signaling the figure's role as a powerful anti-sorcerer, but the contrast between white iron and red copper symbolically alludes to the ambivalent powers of the figure.

Male Figure https://clevelandart.org/art/2010.451