{
"data": {
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"accession_number": "2010.433",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Male Figure (Nkisi), late 1800s-early 1900s. Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cabinda, or Republic of the Congo, probably Vili-style maker. Wood, cloth, resin, organic material, feathers, natural fibers, antelope horn, seashells (including cowrie shells), glass beads, metalized glass, and plant fiber; overall: 42 x 11.8 x 23 cm (16 9/16 x 4 5/8 x 9 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Ren\u00e9 and Odette Delenne Collection, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund, 2010.433",
"current_location": "108A African",
"title": "Male Figure (Nkisi)",
"creation_date": "late 1800s-early 1900s",
"creation_date_earliest": 1880,
"creation_date_latest": 1920,
"artists_tags": [],
"culture": [
"Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cabinda, or Republic of the Congo, probably Vili-style maker"
],
"technique": "Wood, cloth, resin, organic material, feathers, natural fibers, antelope horn, seashells (including cowrie shells), glass beads, metalized glass, and plant fiber",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "African Art",
"collection": "African Art",
"type": "Sculpture",
"measurements": "Overall: 42 x 11.8 x 23 cm (16 9/16 x 4 5/8 x 9 1/16 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"overall": {
"height": 0.42,
"height_inch": 16,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.5625,
"width": 0.118,
"width_inch": 4,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.625,
"depth": 0.23,
"depth_inch": 9,
"depth_inch_fraction": 0.0625
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
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"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 202001,
"title": "Fragments of the Invisible: The Ren\u00e9 and Odette Delenne Collection of Congo Sculpture",
"description": "Fragments of the Invisible: The Ren\u00e9 and Odette Delenne Collection of Congo Sculpture. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 27, 2013-February 9, 2014).",
"opening_date": "2013-10-27T00:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": []
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "Jef Vanderstraete, Lasne, Belgium, sold to Ren\u00e9 and Odette Delenne.",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "before 1960",
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "Ren\u00e9 [1901-1998] and Odette Delenne [1925-2012], Brussels, Belgium, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1960\u20132010",
"sortorder": 2
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "2010\u2013",
"sortorder": 3
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "Different from other figures functioning as defense against witches or misfortune, its \u201cnight guns,\u201d or nduda, are missing.",
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "Nkisi is an object that is believed to host an ancestral spirit. Unusual among these figures, this nkisi figure is missing its nduda, \u201cnight guns.\u201d These guns would be filled with gunpowder functioning as defense against witches or misfortune. Unless its guns were lost during the course of its life history, this nkisi may instead be an example of a more general type called mpanzu, whose functions included protection.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60779665"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-2010.433-male-figure-nkisi"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 53 no. 05, September/October 2013",
"page_number": "Mentioned & reproduced: p. 12",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2013-05/page/12"
},
{
"citation": "Petridis, Constantine, et al. Fragments of the Invisible: The Rene\u0301 and Odette Delenne Collection of Congo Sculpture. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art. Milan: 5 Continents Editions, 2013, 52-53.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: pp. 23, 46, 113; reproduced: pp. 52-53, cat. 13",
"url": null
}
],
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"updated_at": "2026-07-28 15:33:41.115000"
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