Shrine Figure (Ikenga) (possibly early 1900s): Art, History and Details

Shrine Figure (Ikenga) (possibly 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 seated figure of a man holding a cutlass and an inverted human skull is a cult object called ikenga, associated with achievement and success. Standing at the center of a man’s personal shrine, the sculpture receives prayers and sacrifices in return for the ancestors’ guidance. An elaborate headdress comprising two horn-like extensions reinforces the cult’s preoccupation with masculinity, while facial incisions known as ichi refer to membership in one of many male associations.

Object facts

• Title: Shrine Figure (Ikenga)
• Date: possibly early 1900s
• Culture: Africa, West Africa, Nigeria, Igbo carver
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: Wood, organic materials, and raffia
• Dimensions: Overall: 74.5 x 18 x 20 cm (29 5/16 x 7 1/16 x 7 7/8 in.)
• Collection: African Art
• Department: African Art
• Accession number: 2015.72

A detail from the museum

This figure associated with achievement and success would have received prayers and sacrifices in return for the guidance of ancestors.

Collection credit

Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Kunsthaus Zürich, and Elsy Leuzinger. 1970. Die Kunst Von Schwarz-Afrika : [Ausstellung: Kunsthaus Zürich] 31. Oktober 1970-17. Januar 1971. Recklinghausen: Verlag Aurel Bongers, fig. M9.
• Jacques Kerchache et al., L'art africain (Paris: Citadelles & Mazenod, 1988), fig. 930
• Pierre Bergé & associés, Paris (auction house), Collection Anne & Jacques Kerchache, 13 June 2010, lot 322

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.