id:			168752
accession number:	2010.454.b
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/2010.454.b
updated:		2023-04-22 12:24:40.912000

Female Bowl-Bearing Figure (lid), late 1800s-early 1900s. Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Luba-style carver. Wood and upholstery studs; overall: 40.8 x 16.1 x 27.3 cm (16 1/16 x 6 5/16 x 10 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, René and Odette Delenne Collection, Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 2010.454.b

title:				Female Bowl-Bearing Figure (lid)
title in original language:	
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			late 1800s-early 1900s
creation date earliest:		1880
creation date latest:		1920
current location:		108A Sub-Saharan
creditline:			René and Odette Delenne Collection, Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund
copyright:			

---

culture:	Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Luba-style carver
technique:	Wood and upholstery studs
department:	African Art
collection:	African Art
type:		Sculpture
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

---

CREATORS

---

measurements: Overall: 40.8 x 16.1 x 27.3 cm (16 1/16 x 6 5/16 x 10 3/4 in.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	

support materials:


inscriptions:

---

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

	title:		Fragments of the Invisible: The Rene and Odette Delenne Collection of Congo Sculpture
	opening date:   2013-10-27T00:00:00
	<i>Fragments of the Invisible: The Rene and Odette Delenne Collection of Congo Sculpture</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 27, 2013-February 9, 2014).

---

LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

* <em>Frans M. Olbrechts (1899-1958): In Search of Art in Africa.</em> Ethnographic Museum, Antwerp, BE (December 7, 2001-March 31, 2002)

* <em>Tentoonstelling van Kongo-Kunst.</em> Stad Stedelijke Feestzaal, Antwerp, BE (December 24, 1937-January 16, 1938)

---

PROVENANCE

	Gaston Heenen [1880-1963], Brussels, BE, 1939, sold to Hendrik Elias.
	date: ?-1939
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	(Hendrik Elias [b. 1925], Galerie Elmar, Wieze, BE, 1968, sold to René and Odette Delenne)
	date: 1939-1968
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	René [1901-1998] and Odette Delenne [1925-2012], Brussels, BE, 2010, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art.
	date: 1968-2010
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, 2010
	date: 2010
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


---

fun fact:
It is rare for a Luba-style bowl bearer figure to still have its lid.

digital description:
This lid is part of a bowl-bearing figure. In Luba-style art, an object's beauty affects how well it works. While bowl-bearing figures had many possible uses, a royal diviner likely used this well-carved image of a woman carrying a bowl in rituals. Dusty traces of <em>mpemba </em>(white chalk) fleck the shining exterior and the bowl's interior, showing it once held this sacred powder. Diamond-shaped scarification marks at her waist, chest, and back add to her beauty. Her hair is carved into the cascading layered hairstyle worn in the Luba region at the turn of the twentieth century. Strands of imported glass beads encircle her waist and neck, and dangle from her hair. The alternating white and blue beads may symbolize the moon and Mbidi Kiluwe, a culture hero linked to royal practice and smithing. While much Luba-style art depicts women—who are societally important—men created and owned the majority of such works.

wall description:
This lid is part of a bowl-bearing figure that functioned as an oracle for a royal diviner who used it to reveal the origin of problems brought to his attention. The diviner would dispense to his patient a mixture of medicinal substances and chalk from the bowl. This sculpture also served to protect and heal the local village as a whole.
---

RELATED WORKS

---

CITATIONS

	Antwerpen, Stad Stedelijke Feestzaal, and Antwerpsche Propagandaweken. <em>Tentoonstelling van Kongo-Kunst,</em> cat. 669. Exh. Cat. Antwerp: Antwerpsche Propagandaweken, December 24, 1937-January 16, 1938.
	page number: 	Mentioned: cat. 669.
	url:		

	Olbrechts, Frans M. <em>Plastiek van Kongo.</em> Antwerp/Brussels/Ghent/Leuven: Standaards-Boekhandel, 1946.
	page number: 	Reproduced: pl. 108
	url:		

	Olbrechets, Frans M., Constantine Petridis, and Daniel P. Biebuyck. <em>Frans M. Olbrechts (1899-1958): In Search of Art in Africa</em>, cat. 53. Exh. Cat. Antwerp: Ethnographic Museum, December 7, 2001-March 31, 2002.
	page number: 	Reproduced and mentioned: [p. 165] cat. 53
	url:		

	Petridis, Constantine. "René and Odette Delenne." In <em>Tribal Art</em> XV-4, no. 61 (Autumn 2011): 119.
	page number: 	Reproduced: p. 119, fig. 4; mentioned: p. 122
	url:		

	Petridis, Constantine, et al. <em>Fragments of the Invisible: The René and Odette Delenne Collection of Congo Sculpture.</em> Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art. Milan: 5 Continents Editions, 2013, 30, 79, 82-83, 108.
	page number: 	Mentioned: pp. 30, 79-80, 108, 114 ; reproduced: p. 82-83, cat. 26
	url:		

	Petridis, Constantine. "Inscriptions: Establishing a Pre-1937 Acquisition Date for 1,525 Central African Sculptures." <em>Tribal: The Magazine of Tribal Art</em> XXIV: 4, no. 85 (Autumn, 2017): 127, 130-131.
	page number: 	p. 127, p. 130 color repr., p. 131 sketch
	url:		

---

IMAGES

web:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2010.454.b/2010.454.b_web.jpg
print:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2010.454.b/2010.454.b_print.jpg
full:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2010.454.b/2010.454.b_full.tif