Mother-and-Child Figure, late 1800s–early 1900s

Mother-and-Child Figure

late 1800s–early 1900s · Sculpture

Can I see it?

Not on view at present

Where is “Mother-and-Child Figure” now? Collection: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland. Not on view at present. Checked September 29, 2026.

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.

Checked
In this state since
Source
The museum

About the sculpture

Wearing an elaborate lobed headdress and a beaded waistbelt, and having filed teeth and red-powdered skin, this maternity figure seems to have once carried an ax and a cup, wooden imitations of the two most important chiefly attributes. Perhaps together with a male counterpart, it was secretly kept inside the ritual house, serving as a guardian of the chief’s treasure. Its style places it in the westernmost corner of Pendeland, between the Lutshima and Kwilu rivers.

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Details

Accession number
1931.426

In the catalog

Sources

On view at The Cleveland Museum of Art

Museum page