The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

Orange-brown wood sculpture of a woman seated cross-legged with a child laid across her lap, her right hand resting over the child's legs and left supporting the child's neck. The woman has long, thin breasts that jut out from her body. Her only adornments above the waist are thin bands around her upper arms and neck and above her breasts. Her eyes are carved as outlines, and her mouth is slightly open, revealing rectangular teeth.

Mother and Child Figure

late 1800s–early 1900s

Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo , Cabinda, or Republic of the Congo, probably Yombe-style maker

(most likely)
Wood and paint
Overall: 64.7 cm (25 1/2 in.)
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 1997.149
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

The sculpture may have been carved in honor of a woman after her death, or after the death of a male chief. Kongo society is matrilineal, so the chief's right to political power is inherited through the female line.

Description

This Mother and Child Figure is attributed to the Yombe peoples, who inhabit a large territory now divided among the nations of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, and Angola. Its origin has been traced to the areas surrounding the village of a master carver in the western Democratic Republic of Congo, where similarly carved objects were collected in the early 20th century. Its naturalism suggests that it could have been the portrait of a real person, and thus an excellent testimonial to the immense talent of the artist who carved it. Once referred to as the “Burniaux maternity figure,” after the Belgian collector F. Burniaux, who owned it from about 1930 to 1980, the sculpture was acquired by the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1998.
  • before 1930-1980
    Collection F. Burniaux, Dinant, Belgium
    after 1980-?
    Mr. and Mrs. B. A. Kitnick
    after 1980-?
    Private Collection
    1997
    (Anthony Slater-Ralph, Santa Barbara, CA, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1997-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Duponcheel, Christian. Masterpieces of the People's Republic of the Congo, exh. cat. New York: African American Institute, 1980, p. 21, no. 10, with comments on pages 7 and 50.
    Bassani, Ezio. "Due grandi artisti Yombe: Il 'Maestro della maternità Roselli-Lorenzini' e il 'Maestro della maternità de Briey.' " Critica d'Arte 56, no. 178 (1981): 66-84, fig.24.
    Cole, Herbert M. The Mother and Child in African Sculpture, exh. cat. Los Angeles: Museum Associates, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1985 (Ethnic Arts Series 4), cover and cat. 15.
    Robbins, Warren M., and Nancy Ingram Nooter. African Art in American Collections: Survey 1989. Washington/London: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989, no. 932.
    Felix, Marc Leo. "Sundi de l'Ouest." In Marc Leo Felix, Charles Meur, and Niangi Batulukisi. Art et Kongos: les peuples kongophones et leur sculpture, 111-18. Brussels: Zaïre Basin Art History Research Center, 1995, 115, no.1.
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, "Annual Report 1997." listed p. 43, repr. color p. 31.
    May, Sally Ruth, Jane Takac, Barbara J Bradley, and Cleveland Museum of Art. 2001. Knockouts : A Pocket Guide. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, no. 72, p. 69, repr. color; listed p. 118.
    Cleveland Museum of Art, “Major African Sculpture, Recent Mark Tansey Painting, and Other Works of Art Enter CMA Collection,” September 16, 1997, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org
    Young-Sanchez, Margaret, "African Maternity", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 38 no. 02, February Mentioned & reproduced: p.8-9 archive.org
    Petridis, Constantijn. South of the Sahara: selected works of African art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2003. Reproduced: cat. 41, p. 112 - 113
    Cole, Herbert M. Maternity: Mothers and Children in the Arts of Africa.
    Brussels : Mercatorfonds, 2017 Mentioned: p. 242; reproduced: p. 244, fig. 216
    Nzewi, Ugochukwu-Smooth C. Second Careers : Two Tributaries in African Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2019 Reproduced: p. 31, fig. 20; p. 61, pl. 7; mentioned: p. 22, 32. ingallslibrary.on.worldcat.org
    Nzewi, Ugochukwu-Smooth C. Second Careers : Two Tributaries in African Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2019 Reproduced: p. 31, fig. 20; p. 61, pl. 7; mentioned: p. 22, 32. ingallslibrary.on.worldcat.org
  • Second Careers: Two Tributaries in African Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 1, 2020-March 14, 2021).
    Los Angeles, CA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art: The Mother and Child in African Sculpture, December 1985-June 1986. catalogue
    New York, NY, The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Academic Study, The Department of Primitive Art, September 1984-October 1985.
    New York, NY, The African-American Institute: Masterpieces of the People's Republic of the Congo, 1980, catalogue.
  • {{cite web|title=Mother and Child Figure|url=false|author=|year=late 1800s–early 1900s|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1997.149