{
"data": {
"id": 168739,
"accession_number": "2010.444",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Crucifix, late 1800s-early 1900s. Africa, Central Africa, Kongo Kingdom, Kongo-style maker(s). Copper alloy, wood, upholstery studs, and iron alloy; overall: 44.7 x 22.2 x 3.2 cm (17 5/8 x 8 3/4 x 1 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Ren\u00e9 and Odette Delenne Collection, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund, 2010.444",
"current_location": "108A African",
"title": "Crucifix",
"creation_date": "late 1800s-early 1900s",
"creation_date_earliest": 1880,
"creation_date_latest": 1920,
"artists_tags": [],
"culture": [
"Africa, Central Africa, Kongo Kingdom, Kongo-style maker(s)"
],
"technique": "Copper alloy, wood, upholstery studs, and iron alloy",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "African Art",
"collection": "African Art",
"type": "Sculpture",
"measurements": "Overall: 44.7 x 22.2 x 3.2 cm (17 5/8 x 8 3/4 x 1 1/4 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"overall": {
"height": 0.447,
"width": 0.222,
"depth": 0.032
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"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": [
{
"description": "Royal Museums of Art and History, Brussels, Belgium (1945-1949)",
"opening_date": "1945-01-01T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "Leuven, Belgium.",
"opening_date": null
},
{
"description": "Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium.",
"opening_date": null
},
{
"description": "Kunsthaus Z\u00fcrich, Z\u00fcrich, Switzerland (October 31, 1970-February 10, 1971)",
"opening_date": "1970-10-31T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "Villa H\u00fcgel, Essen, Germany (March 25-June 13, 1971)",
"opening_date": "1971-03-25T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 des Expositions du Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium (March 25-June 5, 1988)",
"opening_date": "1988-03-25T00:00:00"
}
]
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "Charles Ralet, Brussels, Belgium, sold to Jef and Ren\u00e9 Vanderstraete",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "?\u20131945",
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "Jef and Ren\u00e9 Vanderstraete, Lasne, Belgium, 1959-1963, sold to Ren\u00e9 and Odette Delenne",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1945-1963",
"sortorder": 2
},
{
"description": "Ren\u00e9 [1901-1998] and Odette Delenne [1925-2012], Brussels, Belgium, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "1963\u20132010",
"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": "This x-shapes of the cross and on Christ's wrapper are forms with symbolic meaning tied to the life cycle in both Catholicism and in the indigenous Kongo religion.",
"description": "An artist made this crucifix from wood and metal centuries after Catholicism became the Kongo Kingdom\u2019s official faith. Following King Nzinga a Nkuwu's 1491 decision to convert, Kongo Christianity uniquely reflected its surroundings. While early Christ images arrived from Portugal and Italy, this later local example has braids like a Kongo man. Worn smooth by repeated touch, the lower figure is the Virgin Mary or a worshiper knelt in mourning or respect. The x-shape incised into his waist wrapper references the dikenga dia Kongo. This likely pre-Christian symbol diagrams the life cycle's four points.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60759927"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-2010.444-crucifix"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "de Borchgrave d'Alt\u00e9na, J. \"Christs de l'ancien Congo.\" In L'Artisan et les Arts Liturgiques [special issue on Art chr\u00e9tien du Congo] 18, no. 4 (1949): 378.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 378, fig. 8",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Leuzinger, Elsy. Die Kunst von Schwarz-Afrika, 270. Exh. Cat. Recklinghausen: Verlag Aurel Bongers, in association with Kunsthaus Z\u00fcrich, October 31, 1970-February 10, 1971.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 270, cat. S7",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Bastin, Marie-Louise, et al. Utotombo. L'Art d'Afrique noire dans les collections priv\u00e9es belges: Socie\u0301te\u0301 des Expositions du Palais des Beaux-Arts, Bruxelles, 25 mars-5 juin 1988, 206. Exh. Cat. Brussels: Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 des Expositions du Palais des Beaux-Arts, March 25-June 5, 1988.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 64; reproduced: p. 206, cat. 165",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Petridis, Constantine. \"Ren\u00e9 and Odette Delenne.\" In Tribal Art XV-4, no. 61 (Autumn 2011): 122.",
"page_number": "Reproduced and mentioned: p. 122, fig. 8",
"url": null
},
{
"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, 40-41, 108, 112.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 43; mentioned: pp. 40-41, 108, 112",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Leuzinger, Elsy. Afrikanische Kunstwerke: Kulturen am Niger, 274. Exh. Cat. Recklinghausen: Verlag Aurel Bongers, in association with Villa H\u00fcgel, March 25-June 13, 1971.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 274, cat. no. S 7",
"url": null
},
{
"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. 253, no. 9.3",
"url": ""
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/2010.444",
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"creditline": "Ren\u00e9 and Odette Delenne Collection, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 168739,
"creators": [],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "2006-06-05T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1880,
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"date_text": "late 1800s-early 1900s",
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"updated_at": "2026-03-27 00:00:48.049000"
}
}