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Lemba Staff: Finial with Female Figure Nursing Child

Master of the Boma-Vonde Region

19th–early 20th century

Not on view

The Lemba association was devoted to social healing and the regulation of wealth distribution through trade networks. This elaborately carved staff was likely the insignia of a Lemba priest or a successful initiate. Seated in majesty at the summit is a nursing mother. The shaft is subdivided into segments that feature imagery specific to Lemba rites such as a four-petal cosmogram, seedpods associated with generosity, and spiral shells integrated into protective adornment.

Lemba Staff: Finial with Female Figure Nursing Child, Master of the Boma-Vonde Region, Wood, Kongo peoples; Yombe group — This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Lemba Staff: Finial with Female Figure Nursing Child, Master of the Boma-Vonde Region, Wood, Kongo peoples; Yombe group

Lemba Staff: Finial with Female Figure Nursing Child, Master of the Boma-Vonde Region, Wood, Kongo peoples; Yombe group

Lemba Staff: Finial with Female Figure Nursing Child, Master of the Boma-Vonde Region, Wood, Kongo peoples; Yombe group

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

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

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

Title: Lemba Staff: Finial with Female Figure Nursing Child

Artist: Master of the Boma-Vonde Region

Date: 19th–early 20th century

Geography: Democratic Republic of the Congo; Cabinda, Angola; Republic of the Congo

Culture: Kongo peoples; Yombe group

Medium: Wood

Dimensions: H. 27 3/8 in. (69.5 cm), W. 2 3/4 in. (7 cm), D. 3 1/4 in. (8.2 cm).

Classification: Wood-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.