Staff Finial: Female Figure with 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.

This woman’s upper half features schematically rendered breasts directly below her neck. A child-like secondary figure extends from her right side, its head aligned with her shoulder and impossibly turned to face us. The female protagonist grasps a strap in her left hand that extends diagonally across her body from the left shoulder to support the infant’s buttocks.

Artwork Details

Overview

Provenance

Exhibition History

References

Title: Staff Finial: Female Figure with Child
Date: 19th–early 20th century
Geography: Democratic Republic of the Congo; Republic of the Congo; Cabinda, Angola
Culture: Kongo peoples
Medium: Ivory, metal
Dimensions: H. 4 1/2 in. (11.4 cm), W. 2 in. (5.1 cm), D. 1 3/4 in. (4.4 cm)
Classification: Bone/Ivory-Sculpture
Credit Line: Collection of Robert and Nancy Nooter, Washington, D.C.
Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing