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cmaafrican.bsky.social
CMA: African Art
@cmaafrican.bsky.social
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Sharing public domain works from the African Art department of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Automated thanks to @andreitr.bsky.social and @botfrens.bsky.social
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Female Figurine https://clevelandart.org/art/2010.429
Whether female or male, Beembe figurines generally have greatly detailed anatomical and decorative features—especially hairstyles and abdominal scarification marks—as well as a shiny, lustrous patina. The characteristic scars that were in vogue among Beembe men and women until the 1950s communicated their ideas about local beauty and ethnic belonging. Used to protect its owner’s well-being, such a Beembe figurine was charged with an ancestor’s spirit or life force through a mixture of resin and mostly human-derived ingredients taken from the corpse of the person it possibly portrays; the substance was inserted into a small cavity near the sculpture’s rectum. The staring eyes, made with shards of white porcelain, allude to the figurine’s ability to access the realm of the dead.
December 20, 2025 at 6:39 PM
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Gold Weight : Antelope https://clevelandart.org/art/1935.306
The wealth and power of the Asante kingdom was derived primarily from its massive gold resources. Since at least 1600, small weights in brass and bronze were used to weight gold dust and nuggets. The royal court had the most elaborate store of weights, while commoners often had about a dozen. Their imagery falls into two broad cateogries: geometric and representational. The latter often refers to proverbs, which used judiciously, marked a wise person. The weight in the form of an antelope with enormous horns may refer to the proverb "had I known" -- a visual pun between the length of the horns and the idea of hindsight as perfect vision.
December 20, 2025 at 4:03 PM
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Headrest https://clevelandart.org/art/2010.198
As pillows, headrests served to protect the elaborate coiffures highly fashionable until the early to mid- 20th century, and their use also enhanced contact with the ancestral realm through dreams. Their remains in Great Zimbabwe, other ancient ruins, and abandoned 12th-century burial caves attest to the region’s longstanding tradition of producing and using headrests. [Constantine Petridis Cleveland Museum of Art, (4/16/11-2/26/12); "The Art of Daily Life: Portable Objects from Southeast Africa"]
December 19, 2025 at 6:18 PM
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Gold Weight: Fish https://clevelandart.org/art/1961.399
The wealth and power of the Asante kingdom was derived primarily from its massive gold resources. Since at least 1600, small weights in brass and bronze were used to weight gold dust and nuggets. The royal court had the most elaborate store of weights, while commoners often had about a dozen. Their imagery falls into two broad cateogries: geometric and representational. The latter often refers to proverbs, which used judiciously, marked a wise person.
December 19, 2025 at 12:48 PM
cmaafrican.bsky.social
Mother-and-Child Figure https://clevelandart.org/art/1961.198
The name Senufo covers a complex network of more than 30 different language and dialect groups. The male Poro society and its female counterpart, Tyekpa, constitute the main contexts for art production and use. Among the Fodonon Senufo subgroup, mother-and-child figures play a role in funerary ceremonies organized by the Tyekpa association in which they are carried on the participating women’s heads. However, among the Central Senufo, similar female figures are used as stationary display sculpture for the male Poro society. In the context of the Poro and its female counterpart, mother-and-child figures probably refer to "Ancient Mother," the central deity of the Poro initiation cycle. She is responsible for the protection and instruction of the initiates, her "children," nursing them with the milk of knowledge and thus transforming them into perfect human beings.
December 19, 2025 at 9:35 AM
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Figure of a Pair https://clevelandart.org/art/2010.460.2
The Ubangi region's history of successive migrations and assimilations has resulted in numerous exchanges of religious beliefs and ritual practices. Because little research has been conducted in the region, data regarding the production, use, and meaning of Ubangi sculpture are scant. Despite some stylistic traits, including the heart-shaped faces and the male's crested coiffure, this figure with its female pair is unlike any other in the Ubangian corpus. Based on indirect evidence, the pair has been attributed to the little-known Monzombo and is said to represent the culture's primordial couple. However, no other sculptures have been ascribed to the Monzombo, and we lack further details on their art.
December 18, 2025 at 6:35 PM
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Reliquary Guardian Figure https://clevelandart.org/art/2005.2
The ethnic map of eastern Gabon is extremely complicated as a result of continuous migratory movements since the 17th century. Kota is the name of one of three culturally closely related people. All share the tradition of commemorating and honoring ancestors through the preservation and worship of sacred ancestral relics within cylindrical bark containers or bound in fiber packets. Covered with sheets of copper and brass, this abstract wooden human-shaped figure--distilled to a planar surface--served as a guardian set atop a basket container holding the skull, certain bones, and other relics ofa deceased man. It belonged to a religious institution that honored the memory of individuals who made major contributions during their lifetime. The luminosity of the copper and brass covering was considered intimidating and spiritually empowered to deflect harm and thus protect the owner and his family.
December 18, 2025 at 12:24 PM
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Pair of Figures https://clevelandart.org/art/2010.460
The Ubangi region's history of successive migrations and assimilations has resulted in numerous exchanges of religious beliefs and ritual practices. Because little research has been conducted in the region, data regarding the production, use, and meaning of Ubangi sculpture are scant. Despite some stylistic traits, including the heart-shaped faces and the male's crested coiffure, this figure pair is unlike any other in the Ubangian corpus. Based on indirect evidence, the pair has been attributed to the little-known Monzombo and is said to represent the culture's primordial couple. However, no other sculptures have been ascribed to the Monzombo, and we lack further details on their art.
December 18, 2025 at 10:05 AM
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Male Figure https://clevelandart.org/art/1969.10
This figure was used in an ancestral cult dedicated to the founders of small political groupings. Such figures were usually kept in the same shrine with a number of stylistically related male and female carvings that represented ancestors. At times of crisis, the custodian of the shrine spent the night in close proximity to the images, bringing offerings to the ancestors in exchange for their support.
December 17, 2025 at 5:01 PM
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Female Figure https://clevelandart.org/art/1996.266
Female Figure
December 17, 2025 at 3:19 PM
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Patten-type Shoe https://clevelandart.org/art/1929.566.1
Patten-type Shoe
December 17, 2025 at 11:54 AM
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Dagger https://clevelandart.org/art/1916.724
Dagger
December 16, 2025 at 7:06 PM
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Mother-and-Child Figure https://clevelandart.org/art/2003.35
This mother-and-child figure was probably part of a cult concerned with the treatment of infertility. Both her jewelry and her seated pose indicate that the woman occupied a high rank in her community. Her miter-shaped hairstyle, chiseled teeth, and raised body scars--considered to be marks of beauty and perfection--signal that the woman incarnates the founding ancestor of a kinship group.
December 16, 2025 at 12:41 PM
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Staff https://clevelandart.org/art/2010.204
Arguably the finest surviving carving of the Baboon Master in a Western collection, this staff features exceptionally sophisticated articulation and detailing. The circular pokerwork motif on one side—which echoes the treatment of the ears on the male heads supporting the baboon—may represent a shield or a leaf. The heads feature the characteristic ornament that signifies maturity and marriage; covered with a mixture of gum, charcoal, and oil, this hairdo, called <em>isicoco,</em> employed a fiber or sinew ring into which the wearer’s hair was woven.
December 16, 2025 at 9:44 AM
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Hand Coil https://clevelandart.org/art/1975.188
Hand Coil
December 15, 2025 at 5:14 PM
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Hair Ornament https://clevelandart.org/art/1915.501
Hair Ornament
December 15, 2025 at 1:30 PM
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Whistle https://clevelandart.org/art/1915.454
Carved out of ivory or wood in a variety of shapes, Chokwe whistles often bear miniature, stylized renderings of masks. Cikunza, the "patron saint" of the boys' initiation into manhood, is depicted with a pointed extension imitating the horn of a road antelope, symbolizing the fertility spirit. Typically such whistles were used by men during the hunt to communicate with their co-hunters and to call their dogs. They were either worn attached to a string as a necklace or tied to a spear.
December 15, 2025 at 10:25 AM
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Knife https://clevelandart.org/art/1916.1019
Knife
December 14, 2025 at 4:02 PM
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Carved Tusk https://clevelandart.org/art/1968.284
Consisting of a clay platform built against a wall, the altars in the palace of the oba, the divine Benin king, are furnished with different ceremonial objects, including elephant tusks that the new oba commissions from the ivory carvers' guild within three years of his installation. Carved in parallel horizontal rows, the motifs covering the surface of the tusks recall historical and mythological traditions.
December 14, 2025 at 10:19 AM
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Bracelet https://clevelandart.org/art/1916.538
This ivory bracelet is simple, yet elegant. Note how the delicate wire repair by a Kuba artisan adds a counterpoint pattern to the original design.
December 13, 2025 at 4:00 PM
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Male Figure https://clevelandart.org/art/1974.186
Male Figure
December 13, 2025 at 2:13 PM
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Whistle https://clevelandart.org/art/1915.442
Carved out of ivory or wood in a variety of shapes, Chokwe whistles often bear miniature, stylized renderings of masks. Cikunza, the "patron saint" of the boys' initiation into manhood, is depicted with a pointed extension imitating the horn of a road antelope, symbolizing the fertility spirit. Typically such whistles were used by men during the hunt to communicate with their co-hunters and to call their dogs. They were either worn attached to a string as a necklace or tied to a spear.
December 13, 2025 at 10:46 AM
cmaafrican.bsky.social
Male figure https://clevelandart.org/art/2016.57
Realized in a very distinctive style using the lost-wax method, this figure’s cultural origin and function is limited because it was exported from Nigeria during that country’s turbulent civil war of the late 1960s. Perhaps it was once part of an altar or shrine dedicated to a guardian or tutelary spirit. Connotations of prestige and wealth may explain why copper-alloy objects were diffused across vast territory and inherited over many generations.
December 12, 2025 at 6:35 PM
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Head https://clevelandart.org/art/1990.22
Before they died, Akan royal family members commissioned terracotta portraits, including heads like this one, from female artists. After royal burials, these idealized substitutes were placed in sacred groves outside the village where they were the focus of periodic libations, offerings, and prayers. The knobs on the head imitate a once popular male hairstyle having a tufted pattern.
December 12, 2025 at 2:31 PM
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Male Figure https://clevelandart.org/art/2003.36
Hungaan figures of this size served as guardians of ritual shrines and functioned in rituals to promote fertility, guarantee well-being, and ensure longevity. The striking crested hairstyle imitates a real coiffure or a wig, indicative of status and prestige. The hands supporting the chin identify the figure as a chief who is immersed in thought and contemplation, pondering over his responsibilities.
December 12, 2025 at 11:33 AM