Ritual Head

Arts of Africa

Mid–/late 19th century

Hemba
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Central Africa

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.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of Africa

Artist: Hemba (Creator of work depicted)
Title: Ritual Head
Place: Democratic Republic of the Congo (Object made in:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1850–1900
Medium: Wood, animal fur (contemporary facsimile based on period examples), and twine
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
Reference Number: 1999.378
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/152859/manifest.json

Jay N. Whipple, Jr. (died 2018) and Anne Reisse Whipple, Lake Forest, Ill., by 1999; given to the Art Institute, 1999.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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Place

Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.