Female Figure of a Pair
Unknown Artist
late 1800s-early 1900s
Medium
Wood, iron alloy, glass beads, plant fiber, and cloth
Dimensions
41 × 13 × 11.5 cm
Classification
Sculpture
Department
African Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
René and Odette Delenne Collection, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
Accession Number
2010.459.2
About this artwork
Carving of paired figures is quite well documented among the Ngbandi and its neighbors the Ngbaka-Minagende, where such sculptures are said to represent the mythical ancestor Seto and his sister-wife, Nabo. Field-based research cannot confirm the existence of figurative couples among the Ngbandi.