Scepter
Unknown Artist
late 1800s or early 1900s
Medium
Wood, copper alloy, upholstery studs, iron alloy, and cotton
Dimensions
57.5 × 4.5 × 5.5 cm
Classification
Implements
Department
African Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of Dr. Anita J. Glaze
Accession Number
2015.155
About this artwork
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.