Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Figure: Seated Female Supporting Figure with Clasped Hands
Not on view
In the Mayombe region, the term “Phemba” designates the mother and founder of a clan. In view of contextual information gathered relating to the figure collected by the Protestant missionary Léo Bittremieux, all Kongo “mother and child” sculptures have been categorized as phemba and described as instruments used by priests. This assumption is problematic, given that Kongo carvers produced closely related sculptural forms for different patrons, including staffs of office for chiefs and masks and minkisi commissioned by priests. In the absence of documentation concerning a specific work’s original use, determining its role is speculative.
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