{
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"accession_number": "2004.85",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Staff of Office, early to mid-1800s. Central Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Luba. Wood and iron; overall: 170 x 13.3 cm (66 15/16 x 5 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 2004.85",
"current_location": null,
"title": "Staff of Office",
"creation_date": "early to mid-1800s",
"creation_date_earliest": 1800,
"creation_date_latest": 1850,
"artists_tags": [],
"culture": [
"Central Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Luba"
],
"technique": "Wood and iron",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "African Art",
"collection": "African Art",
"type": "Sculpture",
"measurements": "Overall: 170 x 13.3 cm (66 15/16 x 5 1/4 in.)",
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"height_inch": 66,
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"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 229166,
"title": "Art and Power in the Central African Savanna",
"description": "Art and Power in the Central African Savanna. Menil Collection, Houston, TX (September 26, 2008-January 4, 2009); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 1-May 31, 2009); Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA (June 20-October 11, 2009).",
"opening_date": "2008-09-18T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 441598,
"title": "Artlens Exhibition 2019",
"description": "Artlens Exhibition 2019. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer).",
"opening_date": "2019-06-11T04:00:00"
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{
"id": 535628,
"title": "Narrative Wisdom and African Arts",
"description": "Narrative Wisdom and African Arts. Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO (organizer) (October 19, 2024-January 5, 2025) https://www.slam.org/exhibitions/narrative-wisdom-and-african-arts/.",
"opening_date": "2024-10-19T04:00:00"
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"description": "Chief Msidi (c. 1830\u20131891), Yeke (Garanzange) Kingdom (present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo), 1888, given to British missionary Frederick Stanley Arnot.",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [
"\"Msidi's farewell was quite touching in its way. He was anxious that I should wait for his son to go with me. I did not care to encourage this, so declined to wait. At last, after finding that I sought nothing from him, he gave me from his side his rod of authority, or sceptre, assuring me that it would be, to all who knew him, an assurance of the friendship that exists between us.\" March 13, 1888 letter from Frederick Stanley Arnot reproduced in Arnot, Frederick. S. 1893. Bihe\u0301 And Garenganze:Or Four Years' Further Work and Travel in Central Africa. London: J.E. Hawkin, pp. 244\u201345.
",
"- Msidi is often referred to as Msiri, or by the fuller name Mwenda Msiri Ngelengwa Shitambi
",
""
],
"date": "?\u20131888",
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},
{
"description": "Frederick Stanley Arnot [1858-1914], probably Glasgow, Scotland, 1914, by descent to his son Dr. Arthur B. Arnot.",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "1888\u20131914",
"sortorder": 2
},
{
"description": "Dr. Arthur B. Arnot, New York, NY, 1987, consigned for auction at Sotheby\u2019s.",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1914\u20131987",
"sortorder": 3
},
{
"description": "(Sotheby\u2019s, Important Tribal Art, New York, NY, Nov. 10, 1987, Lot #79, sold to Philippe and H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Leloup for George Feher)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1987",
"sortorder": 4
},
{
"description": "George Feher, New York, NY, 1990s, acquired by Morris Pinto",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "1987\u20131990s",
"sortorder": 5
},
{
"description": "Morris Pinto, New York, NY, 1996, acquired by Philippe and H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Leloup",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "?\u20131996",
"sortorder": 6
},
{
"description": "Philippe and H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Leloup, Paris, France, 2004, donated to Marie Victoire Koch",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1996\u20132004",
"sortorder": 7
},
{
"description": "Marie Victoire Koch, Saint Mand\u00e9, France, 2004, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "2004",
"sortorder": 8
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "2004\u2013",
"sortorder": 9
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"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
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"did_you_know": "The Yeke kingdom ruler Chief Msidi gave this as a gift of appreciation to the British missionary Frederick Stanley Arnot, whom the chief had invited to his kingdom.",
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "Sanctified by a ritual specialist and enhanced with medicinal substances, the staff possessed supernatural qualities and was endowed with healing power. Luba staffs are among the most important regalia of Luba kings. The metal point alludes to the kingdom's stability and durability. Each staff has its own distinctive iconography to reflect regional styles. As Chief Msidi (former owner of this staff) ruled over the Yeke kingdom (and not the Luba kingdom), it begs the question of how he acquired this symbol of another realm's power.",
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"citation": "Arnot, Fred S. Bihe and Garenganze: A record of four years\u2019 work and journeying in Africa. London: J.E. Hawkins & Co, LTD., 1893, front cover.",
"page_number": "Front cover",
"url": null
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{
"citation": "Sotheby\u2019s. Important Tribal Art. New York: Sotheby\u2019s, 1987: Lot. 79.",
"page_number": "lot. 79",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Nooter, Robert and Nancy. The Art of Collecting African Art. New York City, NY: New York Center for African Art, 1988, 20-21.",
"page_number": "p. 20-21",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Bacquart, Jean-Baptiste. The Tribal Arts of Africa. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1998, 159.",
"page_number": "p. 159",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art. Annual Report 2004. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 67.",
"page_number": "p. 67",
"url": "https://www.clevelandart.org/sites/default/files/documents/annual-report/2004_annual_report.pdf"
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{
"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art. \u201cMajor Acquisitions: 2000-2005.\u201d In The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine: July/August 2005. (Summer 2005): 12.",
"page_number": "p. 12",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Petridis, Constantine. Art and Power in the Central African Savanna: Luba, Songye, Chokwe, Luluwa. Brussels: Mercatorfonds, 2008, 58-9, fig. 39.",
"page_number": "p. 58, 59: fig. 39",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Petridis, Constantine. \"New Acquisitions of African Art at the Cleveland Museum of Art\". In African Arts, 44, no. 1 (Spring 2011): 54, fig. 2.",
"page_number": "p. 54: fig. 2",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Petridis, Constantine, et al. Fragments of the Invisible: The Rene\u0301 and Odette Delenne Collection of Congo Sculpture. Milan: 5 Continents, 2013, 107.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 107",
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"updated_at": "2026-09-29 20:46:32.988000"
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