Figure (Nkishi)
Practical reuse

Use this artwork.

Verified CC0

This record carries an explicit CC0 marker in the source metadata. Download the publication copy or follow the source record for its master image.

Download publication WebP Open museum master ↗
Rights signal
CC0
Publication file
608 × 900 px · WebP
Suggested credit
Figure (Nkishi) (late 1800s–early 1900s). Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Alvin N. Haas Rights: CC0. https://clevelandart.org/art/1974.212

Vault de Lupin makes the source signal legible; it does not provide legal advice or replace the institution’s current rights statement.

From the museum record

The substances contained in its cloth-covered cranial cavity indicate that this half-figure belongs to the broad category of charms or “power objects” that the Luba call mankishi . It was used by a ritual expert and functioned in a variety of rituals dealing with healing, protection, divination, or jurisdiction. Often such power figures were carved by the ritual experts rather than by professional artists.

Lupin’s visual index

A weathered terracotta figurine depicts a stylized human figure with a beaded necklace and elaborate headdress.

Machine-assisted description · useful for discovery, not scholarship.
Continue looking

Nearby in the vault.

Figure (Nkishi)

Figure (Nkishi)
Your private shortlist

Saved works 0

Stored only in this browser. No account, tracking, or upload.

No works saved yet.

Use “Save work” on any catalogue card or artwork record to build a working collection.