{
"data": {
"id": 172586,
"accession_number": "2015.72",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Shrine Figure (Ikenga), possibly early 1900s. Africa, West Africa, Nigeria, Igbo carver. Wood, organic materials, and raffia; overall: 74.5 x 18 x 20 cm (29 5/16 x 7 1/16 x 7 7/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund, 2015.72",
"current_location": null,
"title": "Shrine Figure (Ikenga)",
"creation_date": "possibly early 1900s",
"creation_date_earliest": 1900,
"creation_date_latest": 1925,
"artists_tags": [],
"culture": [
"Africa, West Africa, Nigeria, Igbo carver"
],
"technique": "Wood, organic materials, and raffia",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "African Art",
"collection": "African Art",
"type": "Sculpture",
"measurements": "Overall: 74.5 x 18 x 20 cm (29 5/16 x 7 1/16 x 7 7/8 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"overall": {
"height": 0.745,
"height_inch": 29,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.3125,
"width": 0.18,
"width_inch": 7,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.0625,
"depth": 0.2,
"depth_inch": 7,
"depth_inch_fraction": 0.875
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 412365,
"title": "The Language of Beauty in African Art",
"description": "The Language of Beauty in African Art. Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX (April 3-July 31, 2022) https://kimbellart.org/exhibition/language-beauty-african-art; The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (organizer) (November 20, 2022-February 27, 2023) https://www.artic.edu/exhibitions/9344/the-language-of-beauty-in-african-art.",
"opening_date": "2022-04-03T04:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": [
{
"description": "Kunsthaus Zurich, 1970-71: Elsy Leuzinger, \"Die Kunst von Schwarz-Afrika\"",
"opening_date": "1970-01-01T00:00:00"
}
]
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "Jacques Kerchache, Paris, France (probably by field-collection in Nigeria (Biafra), at the end of the Nigerian Civil War, in 1968 or 1969)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "1968, 1969, or 1970-2001",
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "Anne Kerchache, Paris, France by inheritance",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "2001-2010",
"sortorder": 2
},
{
"description": "(Pierre Berg\u00e9 & Associ\u00e9s, Paris, France, \u201cCollection Anne et Jacques Kerchache\u201d Lot 132 - sold June 13, 2010)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "2010",
"sortorder": 3
},
{
"description": "Steven Morris, New York/Michigan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "2010-2016",
"sortorder": 4
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "2016-",
"sortorder": 5
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "This figure associated with achievement and success would have received prayers and sacrifices in return for the guidance of ancestors.",
"description": "This seated figure of a man holding a cutlass and an inverted human skull is a cult object called ikenga, associated with achievement and success. Standing at the center of a man\u2019s personal shrine, the sculpture receives prayers and sacrifices in return for the ancestors\u2019 guidance. An elaborate headdress comprising two horn-like extensions reinforces the cult\u2019s preoccupation with masculinity, while facial incisions known as ichi refer to membership in one of many male associations.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60758051"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-2015.72-shrine-figure-ikenga"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Kunsthaus Zu\u0308rich, and Elsy Leuzinger. 1970. Die Kunst Von Schwarz-Afrika : [Ausstellung: Kunsthaus Zu\u0308rich] 31. Oktober 1970-17. Januar 1971. Recklinghausen: Verlag Aurel Bongers, fig. M9.",
"page_number": "",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Jacques Kerchache et al., L'art africain (Paris: Citadelles & Mazenod, 1988), fig. 930",
"page_number": "",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Pierre Berg\u00e9 & associ\u00e9s, Paris (auction house), Collection Anne & Jacques Kerchache, 13 June 2010, lot 322",
"page_number": "",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Meier, Prita, Raymond Aaron Silverman, Andrew W Gurstelle, and University of Michigan Museum of Art. 2012. African Art and the Shape of Time. Ann Arbor: Regents of the University of Michigan, pl. 9.",
"page_number": "",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Herbert M. Cole, Igbo (Milan: 5 Continents Editions, 2013), pl. 9",
"page_number": "",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum Masters: 2016-17 Companion Guide. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2016.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: P. 81",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Petridis, Constantine. \"Acquisitions 2015: African Art.\u201d Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 56, no. 2 (March/April 2016): 31.",
"page_number": "Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 31",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2016-02"
},
{
"citation": "Cole, Herbert M. Igbo. Milan : 5 Continents Editions, 2013.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 24, p. 26; reproduced: p. 131, pl. 9",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Rondeau, James, Constantijn Petridis, Yae\u0308lle Biro, Herbert M. Cole, Kassim Kone, Babatunde Lawal, Wilfried Van Damme, and Susan Mullin Vogel. The language of beauty in African art. 2022.",
"page_number": "",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "\"The Language of Beauty in African Art.\" Kimbell Art Museum Members' Guide (March\u2013September 2022): 2-7.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: P. 5",
"url": ""
}
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"updated_at": "2026-05-29 08:50:28.898000"
}
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