The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 28, 2024

Female Figurine

Female Figurine

late 1800s-early 1900s
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

The carvings in the figure’s abdomen reflect the custom of body scarification among the Beembe people.

Description

Beembe figurines generally have greatly detailed anatomical and decorative features. The scarification among Beembe men and women communicated their ideas about local beauty and ethnic belonging. These figures are charged with an ancestor’s spirit through a mixture of resin and human-derived ingredients—taken from the corpse of the person they possibly portray—into a small cavity near the rectum.
  • ?-1967
    (Marcel Dumoulin, Brussels, BE, 1967, sold to René and Odette Delenne)
    1967-2010
    René [1901-1998] and Odette Delenne [1925-2012], Brussels, BE, 2010, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    2010
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, 2010
  • Petridis, Constantine, et al. Fragments of the Invisible: The René and Odette Delenne Collection of Congo Sculpture. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art. Milan: 5 Continents Editions, 2013, 25, 34. Reproduced and mentioned: pp. 34, 112 cat. no. 1
  • Fragments of the Invisible: The Rene and Odette Delenne Collection of Congo Sculpture. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 27, 2013-February 9, 2014).
  • {{cite web|title=Female Figurine|url=false|author=|year=late 1800s-early 1900s|access-date=28 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2010.429