{
"data": {
"id": 163793,
"accession_number": "2005.2",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Sculptural Element from a Reliquary Ensemble (mbulu ngulu), probably 1800s. Africa, Central Africa, Gabon, Kota-style maker. Wood, copper alloy, and iron; overall: 61 x 27.5 x 3 cm (24 x 10 13/16 x 1 3/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 2005.2",
"current_location": "108A African",
"title": "Sculptural Element from a Reliquary Ensemble (mbulu ngulu)",
"creation_date": "probably 1800s",
"creation_date_earliest": 1800,
"creation_date_latest": 1899,
"artists_tags": [],
"culture": [
"Africa, Central Africa, Gabon, Kota-style maker"
],
"technique": "Wood, copper alloy, and iron",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "African Art",
"collection": "African Art",
"type": "Sculpture",
"measurements": "Overall: 61 x 27.5 x 3 cm (24 x 10 13/16 x 1 3/16 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"overall": {
"height": 0.61,
"width": 0.275,
"depth": 0.03
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 181802,
"title": "The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art",
"description": "The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (MOCA), Cleveland, OH (June 9-August 20, 2006).",
"opening_date": "2006-06-09T00:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": [
{
"description": "MOCA Cleveland (6/9/2006 - 8/20/2006): \"The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art\", no. 34, p. 117, color repr. p. 11.",
"opening_date": "2006-06-09T00:00:00"
}
]
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "Mr. and Mrs. Willem Vranken-Hoet, Brussels, Belgium, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "?\u20132005",
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "Purchased by the Cleveland Museum of Art",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "2005\u2013",
"sortorder": 2
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "The diamond-shaped \"body\" of this sculpture was originally pushed into a container of ancestral relics (bones) up to its \"shoulders.\" Metal covers only areas of the wood that were left visible.",
"description": "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\u2014distilled to a planar surface\u2014served as a guardian set atop a basket container holding the skull, certain bones, and other relics of a 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.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60757903"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-2005.2-sculptural-element-f"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Debbaut, Jan, Dominique Favart, G. van Geertruyen, and Palais des beaux-arts (Brussels, Belgium). 1988. Utotombo : L\u2019art D\u2019afrique Noire Dans Les Collections Prive\u0301es Belges : Socie\u0301te\u0301 Des Expositions Du Palais Des Beaux-Arts, Bruxelles, 25 Mars-5 Juin 1988 Ed. franc\u0327aise ed. Bruxelles: Palais des beaux-arts, Illustration of piece on p. 90, catalogue entry on p. 293-4.",
"page_number": "",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Petridis, Constantine. \"New Acquisitions of African Art at the Cleveland Museum of Art\". African Arts. (44) No. 1, Spring 2011. Pg. 54; 58-59, Fig. 6.",
"page_number": "",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Franklin, David, C. Griffith Mann, and Cleveland Museum of Art. 2012. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, p. 236-7.",
"page_number": "",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Perrois, Louis. Kota. Milan: 5 Continents Editions; New York : Distributed in the United States and Canada by Harry N. Abrams, 2012. Pg 47, pl 25.",
"page_number": "",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Windmuller-Luna, Kristen. \"An Obsession with Heads: The Impact of African Arts, Anthropology, and Photography on the Works of Alberto Giacometti,\" Medium (May 2022).",
"page_number": "",
"url": "https://medium.com/cma-thinker/an-obsession-with-heads-968e8e8c2d30"
},
{
"citation": "\"Major Acquisitions 2000-2005.\" Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 45, no. 6 (July/August 2005): 6-17.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 12",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2005-06/page/12/mode/2up"
},
{
"citation": "Sims, Lowery Stokes. The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content, and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2006.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: P. 11, no. 34",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Smith, Fred T., Judith Perani, Joseph L. Underwood, and Martha J. Ehrlich. The Visual Arts of Africa : Gender, Power, and Life Cycle Rituals. Second edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2022.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 237, no. 8.10",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Nzewi, Ugochukwu-Smooth C. \"Martin Puryear and Africa.\" In Martin Puryear: Nexus, edited by Emily Liebert, 142-151. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2025.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 147-148, fig. 61",
"url": ""
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/2005.2",
"images": {
"annotation": null,
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2005.2/2005.2_web.jpg",
"width": "601",
"height": "900",
"filesize": "176925",
"filename": "2005.2_web.jpg"
},
"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2005.2/2005.2_print.jpg",
"width": "2270",
"height": "3400",
"filesize": "1008304",
"filename": "2005.2_print.jpg"
},
"full": {
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"width": "3316",
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},
"alternate_images": [
{
"date_created": "2005-03-02T19:26:50",
"annotation": "",
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/alternate/2005.2/2005.2_alt0_web.jpg",
"width": "579",
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"print": {
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],
"creditline": "Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 163793,
"creators": [],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "2005-02-28T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1800,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "probably 1800s",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "object",
"conservation_statement": null,
"has_conservation_images": false,
"cover_accession_number": null,
"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-03-26 23:59:06.812000"
}
}