{
"data": {
"id": 168429,
"accession_number": "2010.208",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Figure (kg\u00f6ngwana-tshingwana/Ngwana seh\u00f4), 1800s\u20131900s. Southern Africa, Lesotho, Southern Sotho-style maker. Wood, glass beads, cloth, thread, and copper alloy; overall: 25.4 cm (10 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund, 2010.208",
"current_location": "108B Southern African",
"title": "Figure (kg\u00f6ngwana-tshingwana/Ngwana seh\u00f4)",
"creation_date": "1800s\u20131900s",
"creation_date_earliest": 1800,
"creation_date_latest": 1999,
"artists_tags": [],
"culture": [
"Southern Africa, Lesotho, Southern Sotho-style maker"
],
"technique": "Wood, glass beads, cloth, thread, and copper alloy",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "African Art",
"collection": "African Art",
"type": "Sculpture",
"measurements": "Overall: 25.4 cm (10 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"overall": {
"height": 0.254,
"height_inch": 10,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.0
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 197333,
"title": "The Art of Daily Life: Portable Objects From Southeast Africa",
"description": "The Art of Daily Life: Portable Objects From Southeast Africa. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 17, 2011-February 26, 2012).",
"opening_date": "2011-04-17T00:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": [
{
"description": "Cleveland Museum of Art, (4/16/11-2/26/12); \"The Art of Daily Life: Portable Objects from Southeast Africa\" cat. no. 78",
"opening_date": "2011-04-16T00:00:00"
}
]
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "Jonathan Lowen, London",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": null,
"sortorder": null
},
{
"description": "Bowmint Collection [Nicolas Maritz], Pretoria, South Africa",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "2009",
"sortorder": 2
},
{
"description": "(Jacaranda Tribal Art Gallery, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "2010",
"sortorder": 3
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "2010\u2013",
"sortorder": 4
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "Recent scholarship suggests that these figures do not represent a child, but rather, an adult woman who hoped for one. In Sotho belief, the image of a person can be used to impact their seriti, a concept related to one's personal energy.",
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "Historically, figures made from bundled reeds or bead-covered wooden forms\u2013\u2013such as this example\u2013\u2013were linked to fertility in Sotho communities. A man carved the wooden core, while a woman covered it with fabric and beads. The small size of the glass beads indicates their age, while the patterns can be linked to Sotho aesthetics. Like the beads, the round metal disc that functions as the figure's face would have been imported. While no longer used, records indicate these figures may have been used in several contexts associated with conception, including the initiation ceremonies of young girls, divination rites, or as gifts to brides who might symbolically care for the figure in advance of her firstborn's arrival. Some accounts even describe them as toys. Meanings and appearances both appear to have changed over time.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60760088"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-2010.208-figure-kgongwana-tsh"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Petridis, Constantine. \"The Art of Daily Life: Portable Objects from Southeast Africa. \" Tribal Art. (Summer 2011). Pg. 66, Fig. 3",
"page_number": "",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Petridis, Constantine. \"The Art of Daily Life.\" Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 51, no. 3 (May/June 2011): 6-7.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 6",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2011-03/page/6/mode/2up"
},
{
"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: P. 39",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Cole, Herbert M. Maternity: Mothers and Children in the Arts of Africa.
Brussels : Mercatorfonds, 2017",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 123, fig. 105; mentioned: p. 124",
"url": null
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/2010.208",
"images": {
"annotation": null,
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2010.208/2010.208_web.jpg",
"width": "632",
"height": "893",
"filesize": "286682",
"filename": "2010.208_web.jpg"
},
"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2010.208/2010.208_print.jpg",
"width": "2406",
"height": "3400",
"filesize": "4722563",
"filename": "2010.208_print.jpg"
},
"full": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2010.208/2010.208_full.tif",
"width": "3968",
"height": "5606",
"filesize": "66760316",
"filename": "2010.208_full.tif"
}
},
"alternate_images": [
{
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2010.208/2010.208_alt0_web.jpg",
"width": "679",
"height": "893",
"filesize": "288364"
},
"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2010.208/2010.208_alt0_print.jpg",
"width": "2587",
"height": "3400",
"filesize": "4945754"
},
"full": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2010.208/2010.208_alt0_full.tif",
"width": "4363",
"height": "5732",
"filesize": "75052368"
},
"date_created": "2010-08-24T17:37:44",
"annotation": ""
},
{
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2010.208/2010.208_alt1_web.jpg",
"width": "638",
"height": "893",
"filesize": "286012"
},
"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2010.208/2010.208_alt1_print.jpg",
"width": "2431",
"height": "3400",
"filesize": "4911176"
},
"full": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2010.208/2010.208_alt1_full.tif",
"width": "3999",
"height": "5592",
"filesize": "67113636"
},
"date_created": "2010-08-24T18:03:06",
"annotation": ""
},
{
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2010.208/2010.208_alt2_web.jpg",
"width": "672",
"height": "893",
"filesize": "301915"
},
"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2010.208/2010.208_alt2_print.jpg",
"width": "2560",
"height": "3400",
"filesize": "5159081"
},
"full": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2010.208/2010.208_alt2_full.tif",
"width": "4118",
"height": "5468",
"filesize": "67578164"
},
"date_created": "2010-08-24T17:54:23",
"annotation": ""
}
],
"creditline": "Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 168429,
"creators": [],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "2010-09-07T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1800,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "1800s\u20131900s",
"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": [
"Doll",
"Fertility Figure"
],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-05-29 11:27:01.470000"
}
}