Vol. I · The open image paperWinnipeg · Musée sans mursRecovered · Remembered · Returned
Cleveland Museum of Art168752landscapelate 1800s-early 1900sCC0cma african-global-heritage mythology symbols-patterns portraits objects-with-gravity african global heritage symbols patterns objects with gravity egyptian artifact mushroom bronze wood carving ancient religious symbol brown beige ornate craftsmanship museum culture funerary female bowl bearing figure lidlate 1800s-early 1900s Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Luba-style carver Wood and upholstery studs Sculpture African MythologicalAfrican & Global Heritage Myth & Metamorphosis Symbols & Ornament Faces in Time Objects with Gravity
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Female Bowl-Bearing Figure (lid) (late 1800s-early 1900s). René and Odette Delenne Collection, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund Rights: CC0. https://clevelandart.org/art/2010.454.b
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From the museum record
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 layered hairstyle worn in the Luba region at the turn of the twentieth century. Strands of imported glass beads encircle her waist and neck, and dangle from her hair. The alternating white and blue beads may symbolize the moon and Mbidi Kiluwe, a culture hero linked to royal practice and smithing. While much Luba-style art depicts women—who are societally important—men created and owned the majority of such works.
Lupin’s visual index
A small, intricately carved wooden mushroom with a bronze cap rests on a cylindrical base, showcasing ancient Egyptian craftsmanship.
Machine-assisted description · useful for discovery, not scholarship.