Sculptural Element from a Reliquary Ensemble (mbulu ngulu)
probably 1800s
Maker Unknown
African Art
Sculptural Element from a Reliquary Ensemble (mbulu ngulu), probably 1800s. Africa, Central Africa, Gabon, Kota-style maker. Wood, copper alloy, and iron; overall: 61 x 27.5 x 3 cm (24 x 10 13/16 x 1 3/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 2005.2 The diamond-shaped "body" of this sculpture was originally pushed into a container of ancestral relics (bones) up to its "shoulders." Metal covers only areas of the wood that were left visible.
- Maker/Artist
- Maker Unknown
- Classification
- Sculpture
- Formatted Medium
- Wood, copper alloy, and iron
- Dimensions
- Overall: 61 x 27.5 x 3 cm (24 x 10 13/16 x 1 3/16 in.)
- Departments
- African Art
- Accession Number
- 2005.2
- Credit Line
- Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
- Exhibitions
- The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, MOCA Cleveland (6/9/2006 - 8/20/2006): "The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art", no. 34, p. 117, color repr. p. 11.
- Rights Statement
- CC0
- Museum Location
- 108A Sub-Saharan
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