{
"data": {
"id": 286213,
"accession_number": "2016.57",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Male figure, probably 1800s. Africa, West Africa, Nigeria, Benue River Valley, Unidentified maker. Copper alloy; height: 44.7 x 22.7 x 9.6 cm (17 5/8 x 8 15/16 x 3 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 2016.57",
"current_location": null,
"title": "Male figure",
"creation_date": "probably 1800s",
"creation_date_earliest": 1800,
"creation_date_latest": 1968,
"artists_tags": [],
"culture": [
"Africa, West Africa, Nigeria, Benue River Valley, Unidentified maker"
],
"technique": "Copper alloy",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "African Art",
"collection": "African Art",
"type": "Sculpture",
"measurements": "height: 44.7 x 22.7 x 9.6 cm (17 5/8 x 8 15/16 x 3 3/4 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"height": {
"height": 0.447,
"height_inch": 17,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.625,
"width": 0.227,
"width_inch": 8,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.9375,
"depth": 0.096,
"depth_inch": 3,
"depth_inch_fraction": 0.75
},
"No Extent Specified": {}
},
"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": "The Art of Metal in Africa. African-American Institute, New York, NY (October 7, 1982-January 5, 1983); The Institute for the Arts, Rice University, Houston, TX (February 3-April 10, 1983); Charles W. Bowers Museum, Santa Ana, CA (June 18-September 5, 1983).",
"opening_date": "1983-02-03T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "Africa: The Art of a Continent. Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK (October 4, 1995-January 21, 1996).",
"opening_date": "1995-10-04T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "Central Nigeria Unmasked: Arts of the Benue River Valley. Fowler Museum at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA (February 13-July 24, 2011); National Museum of African Art, Washington, DC (September 14, 2011-February 12, 2012); Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, Stanford, CA (May 16-September 2, 2012); Musee du Quai Branly, Paris, FR (November 12, 2012-January 27, 2013).",
"opening_date": "2011-02-13T00:00:00"
}
]
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "Acquired by Helene Kamer (now Leloup) in Nigeria (Biafra) in 1968 or 1969",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "1968-1993",
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "Helene and Philippe Leloup, New York, NY, sold to a private collector",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "1993-2016",
"sortorder": 2
},
{
"description": "Private collector, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "1993-2016",
"sortorder": 3
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "2016-",
"sortorder": 4
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "Figurative copper-alloy objects like this sculpture point to intense trade and the circulation of people, goods, and technologies in the Benue River Valley, resulting in a highly cosmopolitan society.",
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "Realized in a very distinctive style using the lost-wax method, this figure\u2019s cultural origin and function is limited because it was removed from Nigeria during that country\u2019s turbulent civil war of the late 1960s. Perhaps it was once part of an altar or shrine dedicated to a guardian or tutelary spirit. Connotations of prestige and wealth may explain why copper-alloy objects were diffused across vast territory and inherited over many generations.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q79876261"
],
"internet_archive": [
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"citations": [
{
"citation": "Brincard, Marie-The\u0301re\u0300se, and Evelyn Fischel. The Art of Metal in Africa: New York, N.Y.: African-American Institute, 1982.",
"page_number": "cat. no. H5",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Phillips, Tom. Africa: The Art of a Continent. Munich: Prestel, 1995.",
"page_number": "cat. no. 5.31",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Grunne, Bernard de. \"A Missing Link?: Notes on an Early Proto-Jukun Seated Terracotta Figure\". Tribal: the Magazine of Tribal Art. 10 (2) no. 39 (Autumn-Winter 2005): 130-131.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 130, fig. 1",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Berns, Marla, Richard Fardon, Sidney Littlefield Kasfir, and Jo\u0308rg Adelberger. Central Nigeria Unmasked: Arts of the Benue River Valley. Los Angeles: Fowler Museum at UCLA, 2011.",
"page_number": "cat. no. 6.20",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Berns, Marla C, and Richard Fardon. \u201cCentral Nigeria Unmasked: Arts of the Benue River Valley.\u201d African Arts 44, no. 3 (Autumn 2011): 16\u201337.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 19, fig. 6",
"url": ""
},
{
"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": "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": ""
}
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"creditline": "John L. Severance Fund",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 286213,
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"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "2016-09-06T00:00:00-04:00",
"sortable_date": 1800,
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"updated_at": "2026-07-15 12:51:58.439000"
}
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