Kneeling Figure of a Woman
CultureVili
Date19th century
MediumWood, iron, brass tacks, glass, textile, fiber, symbolic substances, tukula, kaolin, black pigment
DimensionsOverall: 8 × 3 × 3 inches (20.32 × 7.62 × 7.62 cm)
Credit LineGift of Shirley and Barnett C. Helzberg Jr.
Object number2013.42.27
On View
Not on viewCollections
DescriptionThe kneeling figure of a woman with the hands resting on the knees. The head and body are red with tukula. Four-lobed blackened coiffure above a realistic face with glass eyes. A piece of cloth is stuck in the mouth, another one between the legs. Iron ring around the neck. Wide shoulders, round breasts, a geometrical pattern on the abdomen whitened with kaolin. Several carved bangles on each wrist, plus loose bracelets of braided fiber and of cloth containing magico-symbolic substances. Brass tacks in the legs and around the square base.ProvenanceLeo M. W. van Oosterom (1937-1987), The Hague and Amsterdam, Netherlands, by 1984 [1];
With Marc Leo Félix, Brussels, Belgium, stock no. FX981026, by November 13, 1998 [2];
Purchased from Félix by Shirley and Barnett C. Helzberg, Jr., Mission Hills, KS, 1998-2013;
Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2013.
NOTES:
[1] According to Marc Leo Félix, in documentation provided at the time of the object’s purchase, NAMA curatorial files. In “La collection Karin & Leo van Oosterom,” Arts d'Afrique Noire, 49 (Spring 1984), p. 31, Raoul Lehuard writes that Leo van Oosterom started collecting African art in 1965.
[2] Félix's stock number is written on the back of the object's base.
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