The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Special Exhibitions: African and Oceanic Art from the Barbier-Mueller Museum, Geneva: A Legacy of Collecting

African and Oceanic Art from the Barbier-Mueller Museum, Geneva: A Legacy of Collecting


Staff Finial Democratic Republic of the Congo; Kongo peoples, 19th century Ivory; H. 8 5/8 in. (22 cm) Provenance: [Merton Simpson, Paris, before 1979]; Barbier-Mueller collection, since 1979

This ivory figure was intended to be positioned at the summit of a staff of leadership. Throughout the lower Congo region, elephant ivory was a precious commodity that was strictly controlled by Kongo rulers. These leaders commissioned expert sculptors to produce fine ivory sculptures for their personal and courtly use. Insignias like the Barbier-Mueller example were carried by Kongo chiefs as emblems of authority. The condition of the ivory's surface and its coloration suggest extensive handling over many generations. The fluid depiction of the kneeling female subject displays regal attributes of refinement that include complex cicatrization (see glossary) motifs and a distinctive fiber cap. A closely related finial by the same hand entered the collection of Belgium's Royal Museum for Central Africa at Tervuren before 1938. See an Ivory Staff Finial in the Met's collection. See the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History to learn more about Kongo Ivories.