The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 20, 2025

Standing, angular wooden figure with a long neck and their hands placed on their round stomach with a circle carved out. Their face takes on a squat, rounded diamond shape with a square cut out for the mouth and rough semi-circles for the eyes, directly above which their head flattens out, topped with round, metal upholstery studs. An antelope horn protrudes from the center of their head flanked by dark strands of antelope hair.

Female Figure

late 1800s-early 1900s

Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Songye people

Wood, upholstery studs, antelope horns, and animal hair
Overall: 34.8 x 6.2 x 14.5 cm (13 11/16 x 2 7/16 x 5 11/16 in.)
René and Odette Delenne Collection, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 2010.452
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Because this Mankishi is neither small or quite large in size, it was most likely used by a family rather than an individual.

Description

Mankishi figures were believed to have magical powers and were used by diviners to contact spirits in otherworldly realms. Smaller, personal power figures were used to connect with “common” ancestors, while the larger Mankishi figures contacted higher-ranking ancestral spirits. These power figures were kept in their own personal spaces because of their powerful status, and could only be handled by their designated nkunja, or guardian.
  • ?-1960
    (Jean Dierickx, Brussels, BE, 1960, sold to René and Odette Delenne)
    1960-2010
    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
  • Petridis, Constantine. "René and Odette Delenne." In Tribal Art XV-4, no. 61 (Autumn 2011): 123. p. 123
    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, 23, 68-75. Mentioned: pp. 23, 114: reproduced:pp. 76-77, cat. 25
    Neyt, Francois. Songye: The Formidable Statuary of Central Africa. Munich/Berlin/London/New York: Prestel Verlag, 2009, 262. Reproduced: p. 262, no. 230; mentioned: 392, no. 230
  • Fragments of the Invisible: The René 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 Figure|url=false|author=|year=late 1800s-early 1900s|access-date=20 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2010.452