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Portrait of Chief Nemlâo with Woman and Children

Edouard Nels Belgian

Photograph, ca. 1890; postcard, ca. 1900

Not on view

This portrait of chief Nemlão by an unknown photographer was published in the journal Le Congo illustré in 1892 and reproduced in postcard form. Nemlão is seated flanked by a kneeling woman on his left and three children in the foreground. He wears a top hat and a European military jacket as well as beaded necklaces and a rosary around his neck. It is clear that his staff, the shaft of which is densely covered with brass upholstery tacks, is deliberately wielded as a signature attribute.

Portrait of Chief Nemlâo with Woman and Children, Edouard Nels (Belgian) , Publisher, postcard — This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Title: Portrait of Chief Nemlâo with Woman and Children

Artist: Edouard Nels (Belgian) , Publisher

Date: Photograph, ca. 1890; postcard, ca. 1900

Geography: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Banana region

Medium: postcard

Dimensions: 5 3/8 × 3 3/8 in. (13.7 × 8.6 cm)

Classification: Postcards

Credit Line: Holly W. Ross Postcard Collection, Princeton

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.