In the museum catalogue
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Ritual Head
HembaMid–/late 19th century
- Attribution
- Hemba Democratic Republic of the Congo Central Africa
- Medium
- Wood, animal fur (contemporary facsimile based on period examples), and twine
- Physical dimensions
- 33 × 17.8 × 14 cm (13 × 7 × 5 1/2 in.)
- Credit line
- Gift of Anne Reisse Whipple and Jay Whipple in memory of Wilbur Tuggle
CATALOGUE RECORD
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Source rights statement: Public domain
View the museum record ↗From the museum
This male ritual head bears the crossed coiffure and regal, elongated face with arched brows and almond-shaped eyes that are characteristic of Hemba sculpture. The fur attached to the base of this sculpture is not original. This sculpture was possibly once kept in a basket or gourd and would have been used by the head of the clan to foster communication between the living and the ancestral realm.
Description: Art Institute of Chicago · CC BY 4.0