Female Bowl-Bearing Figure (lid)
Unknown Artist
late 1800s-early 1900s
Medium
Wood and upholstery studs
Dimensions
40.8 × 16.1 × 27.3 cm
Classification
Sculpture
Department
African Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
René and Odette Delenne Collection, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
Accession Number
2010.454.b
About this artwork
This lid is part of a bowl-bearing figure. In Luba-style art, an object's beauty affects how well it works. While bowl-bearing figures had many possible uses, a royal diviner likely used this well-carved image of a woman carrying a bowl in rituals. Dusty traces of mpemba (white chalk) fleck the shining exterior and the bowl's interior, showing it once held this sacred powder. Diamond-shaped scarification marks at her waist, chest, and back add to her beauty. Her hair is carved into the cascading...