Male Figure (late 1800s-early 1900s): Art, History and Details

Male Figure (late 1800s-early 1900s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This exceptionally large Teke figure is well preserved and holds a medicine package partly buried in an abdominal cavity. Its size suggests that it stood at the service of a larger group of people and that its powers extended beyond the limits of a village. Its scarification marks and beard identify it as representing a chief or another dignitary.

Object facts

• Title: Male Figure
• Date: late 1800s-early 1900s
• Culture: Africa, Central Africa, Republic of the Congo (most likely) or Democratic Republic of the Congo, Teke-style maker
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: Wood, resin, iron, copper, plant fiber, cloth, glass beads, coins, antelope horns, and cowrie shells
• Dimensions: Overall: 97.1 cm (38 1/4 in.); without base: 91.5 x 16 x 16.3 cm (36 x 6 5/16 x 6 7/16 in.)
• Collection: African Art
• Department: African Art
• Accession number: 2010.430

A detail from the museum

The coins on the figure’s hat were those used in the Belgian Congo.

Collection credit

René and Odette Delenne Collection, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lehuard, Raoul. Les Arts Bateke. Arnouville, FR: Arts d'Afrique Noire, 1996, fig. 85.1.1.
• Petridis, Constantine, et al. Fragments of the Invisible: The René and Odette Delenne Collection of Congo Sculpture. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art. Milan: 5 Continents Editions, 2013, 34.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.