Lidded container

CultureKuba peoples

Date19th century

MediumCarved wood

DimensionsOverall: 1 1/4 × 12 × 2 1/2 inches (3.18 × 30.48 × 6.35 cm)

Credit LineGift of Shirley and Barnett C. Helzberg Jr.

Object number2013.42.36.A,B

On View

Not on view

Collections

African Art

Terms

DescriptionElongated box container in rectangle with curved rounded sides, with fitted lid with small cone protrusion as handle, geometric designProvenance

Provenance

Josephite Fathers mission museum, Melle, Belgium [1];

With Marc Leo Félix, Brussels, Belgium, stock no. FX971147, by December 1, 1997-May 28, 1998 [2];

Purchased from Félix by Shirley and Barnett C. Helzberg, Jr., Mission Hills, KS, May 28, 1998-2013;

Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2013.

NOTES:

[1] The Josephite Fathers are Catholic missionaries who were active in the colony of Belgian Congo beginning in 1929. They founded several museums of African objects at their mission houses in Belgium, including in Geraardsbergen and Melle. It is unclear how this object left the Josephite collection, although the Fathers sometimes sold pieces privately in order to raise funds.

[2] According to dealer Marc Leo Félix, in a letter to Shirley Helzberg, May 6, 1998, NAMA curatorial files. Félix's stock number is written on the underside of the object.

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