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Staff Finial: Ngoyo Queen Giving Birth and Holding Child

Kongo people; Woyo group

19th–early 20th century, inventoried 1930

Not on view

Oral traditions identified this kneeling woman, in the act of giving birth and holding a child that extends across her chest, as the Ngoyo Queen and founder of the Woyo people. This staff summit, likely part of Ngoyo’s official royal insignia, was obtained by Father Lourenço Mambuko, one of the last priests ordained in the Spiritan seminary of Landana in 1930.

Staff Finial: Ngoyo Queen Giving Birth and Holding Child, Ivory, Kongo people; Woyo group — This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Staff Finial: Ngoyo Queen Giving Birth and Holding Child, Ivory, Kongo people; Woyo group

Staff Finial: Ngoyo Queen Giving Birth and Holding Child, Ivory, Kongo people; Woyo group

This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more.

This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Title: Staff Finial: Ngoyo Queen Giving Birth and Holding Child

Date: 19th–early 20th century, inventoried 1930

Geography: Cabinda, Angola, Landana region

Culture: Kongo people; Woyo group

Medium: Ivory

Dimensions: H. 4 5/8 in. (11.7 cm), W. 1 5/8 in. (4.1 cm), D. 1 5/8 in. (4.1 cm)

Classification: Bone/Ivory-Sculpture

Credit Line: Musée du Quai Branly, Paris

The Met

The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing at The Met

The Met's collection of art of the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa, the Pacific Islands, and North, Central, and South America comprises more than eleven thousand works of art of varied materials and types, representing diverse cultural traditions from as early as 3000 B.C.E. to the present.