Staff Finial

CultureYombe or Kongo peoples

Date17th-18th century

MediumIvory with palm oil

DimensionsOverall: 7 7/8 × 2 3/4 × 1 1/2 inches (20 × 6.99 × 3.81 cm)

Credit LineThe Donald and Adele Hall Collection of African Art

Object number12.2001.11

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Terms

DescriptionThis female figure kneels on a leopard. The coiffure is pulled into a wrapped ponytail which rests in the center of the back. The face is characterized by a short forehead, incised eyes and eyelids, large ears with earrings, a short nose with flaring nostrils, and large lips. The short, thick neck is surrounded by a necklace which rests on the upper chest. The figure holds an object in each hand. The spine and buttocks are incised. The leopard is covered in incised circles. Its face is characterized by small, folded ears, incised eyes and nostrils, a long snoutm and an open mouth displaying many teeth. The front paws rest on a small animal. A rich, glossy patina covers the entire finial.

Kongo staffs, which belonged to chiefs and kings, served as symbols of rank and power.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Tentoonstelling van Kongo-Kunst, Stadsfeestzaal, Antwerp, Belgium, December 24-January 16, 1937-1938.

Die Kunst von Schwarz-Afrika, Kunsthaus Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland, October 31-January 17, 1970-197.

Riders of Power in African Sculpture, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA, November 23-May 6, 1983-1984.

Icons, Ideals and Power in the Art of Africa, National Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C., October 25-September 3, 1989-1990.

Magnificent Gifts for the 75th, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, February 13-April 4, 2010.

Gallery Label

This ivory figure, half female and half leopard, appears to represent a founding ancestress of the matrilineal Yombe peoples. The royal woman holds two gourds that may contain potent medicines associated with rulers’ occult powers. The snarling leopard, with its serpent-headed forepaws, is a fearsome representation of royal authority and military prowess. Two spiraled staffs flanking the leopard may be royal mvwala staffs drawing power from the earth and ancestral dead. The use of ivory and the warm, red tone of this figure, achieved through the application of red palm oil, make this an object associated with powerful spiritual forces.

Published References

Antwerpische Propagandaweken, Tentoonstelling van Kongo-kunst: stadsfeestzaal 24 december 1937-16 januari 1938 (Antwerp: Antwerpsche Propagandaweken, 1938).

Elsy Leuzinger, Die Kunst von Schwarz-Afrika (Zurich: Kunsthaus Zürich, 1970), 272, #S16, (repro.).

Loudmer-Poulain, Arts Primitifs (Paris : Loudmer-Poulain, December 16, 1978), lot 79.

Herbert M. Cole, Riders of Power in African Art (Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1983), 4, #22, (repro.).

Herbert M. Cole, Icons: Ideals and Power in Art of Africa (Washington, D.C.: National Museum of African Art, 1989), 30, #28, (repro.).

Warren M. Robbins and Nancy Ingram Nooter, African Art in American Collections, Survey 1989 (Washington/London: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989), 366, #953, (repro.).

Marc Leo Felix, White Gold, Black Hands, Ivory Sculpture in Kongo (Heilungkiang: Gemini Sun Qiqubar, 2010), 174-175, figs.221a-b, (repro.).

David A. Binkley, A Private Passion: The Donald and Adele Hall Collection of African Art (Seattle: Marquand Books, 2015), 166, 168-169, (repro.).

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