Staff of Office (early to mid-1800s): Art, History and Details

Staff of Office (early to mid-1800s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Sanctified by a ritual specialist and enhanced with medicinal substances, the staff possessed supernatural qualities and was endowed with healing power. Luba staffs are among the most important regalia of Luba kings. The metal point alludes to the kingdom's stability and durability. Each staff has its own distinctive iconography to reflect regional styles. As Chief Msidi (former owner of this staff) ruled over the Yeke kingdom (and not the Luba kingdom), it begs the question of how he acquired this symbol of another realm's power.

Object facts

• Title: Staff of Office
• Date: early to mid-1800s
• Culture: Central Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Luba
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: Wood and iron
• Dimensions: Overall: 170 x 13.3 cm (66 15/16 x 5 1/4 in.)
• Collection: African Art
• Department: African Art
• Accession number: 2004.85

A detail from the museum

The Yeke kingdom ruler Chief Msidi gave this as a gift of appreciation to the British missionary Frederick Stanley Arnot, whom the chief had invited to his kingdom.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Arnot, Fred S. Bihe and Garenganze: A record of four years’ work and journeying in Africa. London: J.E. Hawkins & Co, LTD., 1893, front cover.
• Sotheby’s. Important Tribal Art. New York: Sotheby’s, 1987: Lot. 79.
• Nooter, Robert and Nancy. The Art of Collecting African Art. New York City, NY: New York Center for African Art, 1988, 20-21.

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.