Staff / Artist Unknown, Pende peoples Democratic Republic of the Congo
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About this Item
Record Details
- Accession Number
- 2001/2.67
- Title
- Staff
- Artist Nationality
- Congolese (Zairean)
- Medium and Support
- wood
- Object Creation Date
- 1900-1970
- Credit Line
- Gift of Margaret H. and Albert J. Coudron
- Dimensions
- 93.5 cm x 6 cm x 5.5 cm (36 13/16 in. x 2 3/8 in. x 2 3/16 in.)
- Century
- 20th century
- Physical Description
- A slightly curved staff, topped by a long, narrow handle, placed atop a carved human head, with simple hairdo and facial feautures. The shaft is covered by a snake coiling upward from the lower end of the staff.
- Subject Matter
- This carved "mihango" staff is topped by a human head, like many similar staffs produced in the southwestern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (a contact region of Pende, Lunda, and Chokwe peoples). The representation of a snake on the staff is shared with many other ethnic groups in this region, and may refer to the positive attributes of leadership. These staffs were used by orators, or speakers, who acted as defense lawyers for the members of their lineage; they were owned by particular lineages or sublineages. When the orator for a particular lineage died, the staff would temporarily be placed in the granary of a young woman, and would then be transferred to the newly chosed speaker in an elaborate ritual. The staffs are also said to have been fashioned with power substances inside them, but there is no evidence of that on this particular staff. Because of this link between orators' staffs and spiritual powers, Catholic missionaries and Pende teachers in the 1940s and 50s reinterpreted the staffs as "fetishes" and threw them in the Kwilu River.
- Secondary Keywords
- ceremonial weapons
- objects
- objects we use
- people
- people (agents)
- people and culture
- people by gender
- sculpture
- sculpture by subject type
- statues
- visual works
- visual works by medium or technique
- weapons
- weapons and ammunition
- Rights
- If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit https://umma.umich.edu/about/services/request-image/ for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.
Technical Details
- Collection
- University of Michigan Museum of Art
- Image Size
- 792 x 1496
- File Size
- 125 KB
- Record
- 2001/2.67
- Link to this Item
-
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-2001-sl-2.67/2001_2.67.jpg
Rights and Permissions
Related Links
IIIF
- Manifest
-
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/image/api/manifest/musart:2001-SL-2.67:2001_2.67.JPG
Cite this Item
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- Full citation
-
"Staff; Artist Unknown, Pende peoples Democratic Republic of the Congo." In the digital collection University of Michigan Museum of Art. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-2001-sl-2.67/2001_2.67.jpg. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 27, 2024.
