{
"data": {
"id": 286015,
"accession_number": "2016.33",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Male Figure (Ofika), late 1800s or early 1900s. Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mbole-style carver. Wood, colorant, and upholstery studs; 42.2 cm (16 5/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 2016.33",
"current_location": "108A African",
"title": "Male Figure (Ofika)",
"creation_date": "late 1800s or early 1900s",
"creation_date_earliest": 1875,
"creation_date_latest": 1925,
"artists_tags": [],
"culture": [
"Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mbole-style carver"
],
"technique": "Wood, colorant, and upholstery studs",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "African Art",
"collection": "African Art",
"type": "Sculpture",
"measurements": "42.2 cm (16 5/8 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"No Extent Specified": {
"height": 0.422
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 306886,
"title": "Recent Acquisitions",
"description": "Recent Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 17-June 7, 2018).",
"opening_date": "2018-03-17T04:00:00"
},
{
"id": 324225,
"title": "African art rotation",
"description": "African art rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 20, 2019-October 5, 2020).",
"opening_date": "2019-02-20T05:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": [
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art (03/17/2018-06/06/2018): \"Recent Acquisitions 2014-2017\"",
"opening_date": "2018-03-17T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "Utotombo, The Art of Black Africa in Belgian Private Collections, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium (03/25/1988-06/05/1988)",
"opening_date": "1988-03-25T05:00:00Z"
}
]
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "Field-collected by Pierre Dartevelle",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [
"Sales invoice November 24, 1995, Curatorial Files
"
],
"date": "1971",
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "Phillipe Guimiot, Brussels, BE, sold to Atlantic Art Partners",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [
"Sales invoice November 24, 1995, Curatorial Files
"
],
"date": "1971\u20131995",
"sortorder": 2
},
{
"description": "Atlantic Art Partners I, LLC, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [
"Sales invoice November 24, 1995, Curatorial Files
"
],
"date": "1995\u20132016",
"sortorder": 3
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "2016\u2013",
"sortorder": 4
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "The stripe painted down the figure's torso represents the cord used for execution.",
"description": "Figures such as this, known as ofika, were central to the initiation practices and the enforcement of laws among the all-male Lilwa association, a hierarchical organization that served educational, judicial, political, economic, and ritual functions among the Mbole. Meant to instill a moral code and to act as a cautionary symbol during initiation for Lilwa novices, ofika figures are believed to represent criminals who were ritually hanged for transgressions against Lilwa laws. The figure\u2019s encrusted surface imitates how members covered their bodies with a substance made of ashes and palm oil during burial rites.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q79870518"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-2016.33-male-figure-ofika"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Petridis, Constantine. \u201cAcquisition Highlights 2016: African Art.\u201d Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 57, no. 2 (March/April 2017): 17.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: P. 17; Mentioned: P. 7, 17",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2017-02/page/n7/mode/2up"
},
{
"citation": "Lemonedes, Heather. \u201cAcquisition Highlights.\u201d Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 58, no. 2 (March/April 2018): 6-7.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: P. 7",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2018-02/page/n3/mode/2up"
},
{
"citation": "African Arts (Winter 1996, XXIX, 1). Back cover.",
"page_number": "Back cover",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Bastin et al, Utotombo. L'art d'Afrique noire dans les collections priv\u00e9es belges. Brussels: Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 des expositions, 1998. Cat. 250, p. 244",
"page_number": "",
"url": ""
}
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"updated_at": "2026-03-27 00:04:37.850000"
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