Scepter (late 1800s or early 1900s): Art, History and Details

Scepter (late 1800s or early 1900s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Staffs and scepters as well as tobacco pipes and mortars are among the most important sculptural creations to stem from the Ovimbundu peoples, a Central African culture. All of these object types have associations with ideas of class, status, and power. This scepter has a handle wrapped in thin copper wire that forms wide bands of alternating metal and wooden passages. Its finial is a human head whose carved headdress or hairstyle is ornamented with round-headed metal tacks.

Object facts

• Title: Scepter
• Date: late 1800s or early 1900s
• Culture: Africa, Central Africa, Angola, Ovimbundu-style maker
• Type: Tools and Equipment
• Technique: Wood, copper alloy, upholstery studs, iron alloy, and cotton
• Dimensions: Overall: 57.5 x 4.5 x 5.5 cm (22 5/8 x 1 3/4 x 2 3/16 in.)
• Collection: African Art
• Department: African Art
• Accession number: 2015.155

Collection credit

Gift of Dr. Anita J. Glaze

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.