The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

Wood sculpture with orange undertones wearing a wrap of four ruffled layers around their waist. They hold their arms by their sides at a ninety-degree angle, a thick, squat knife in their right and an upside down face in the left. The figure's mouth widens to bared teeth with two horn-like extensions protruding from their head, the horns curving in on themselves. Rows of three rounded cones line either side of the figure's face.

Shrine Figure (Ikenga)

possibly early 1900s

Africa, West Africa, Nigeria, Igbo carver

Wood, organic materials, and raffia
Overall: 74.5 x 18 x 20 cm (29 5/16 x 7 1/16 x 7 7/8 in.)
Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2015.72
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

This figure associated with achievement and success would have received prayers and sacrifices in return for the guidance of ancestors.

Description

This seated figure of a man holding a cutlass and an inverted human skull is a cult object called ikenga, associated with achievement and success. Standing at the center of a man’s personal shrine, the sculpture receives prayers and sacrifices in return for the ancestors’ guidance. An elaborate headdress comprising two horn-like extensions reinforces the cult’s preoccupation with masculinity, while facial incisions known as ichi refer to membership in one of many male associations.
  • 1968, 1969, or 1970-2001
    Jacques Kerchache, Paris, France (probably by field-collection in Nigeria (Biafra), at the end of the Nigerian Civil War, in 1968 or 1969)
    2001-2010
    Anne Kerchache, Paris, France by inheritance
    2010
    (Pierre Bergé & Associés, Paris, France, “Collection Anne et Jacques Kerchache” Lot 132 - sold June 13, 2010)
    2010-2016
    Steven Morris, New York/Michigan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    2016-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Kunsthaus Zürich, and Elsy Leuzinger. 1970. Die Kunst Von Schwarz-Afrika : [Ausstellung: Kunsthaus Zürich] 31. Oktober 1970-17. Januar 1971. Recklinghausen: Verlag Aurel Bongers, fig. M9.
    Jacques Kerchache et al., L'art africain (Paris: Citadelles & Mazenod, 1988), fig. 930
    Pierre Bergé & associés, Paris (auction house), Collection Anne & Jacques Kerchache, 13 June 2010, lot 322
    Meier, Prita, Raymond Aaron Silverman, Andrew W Gurstelle, and University of Michigan Museum of Art. 2012. African Art and the Shape of Time. Ann Arbor: Regents of the University of Michigan, pl. 9.
    Herbert M. Cole, Igbo (Milan: 5 Continents Editions, 2013), pl. 9
    Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum Masters: 2016-17 Companion Guide. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2016. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 81
    Petridis, Constantine. "Acquisitions 2015: African Art.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 56, no. 2 (March/April 2016): 31. Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 31 archive.org
    Cole, Herbert M. Igbo. Milan : 5 Continents Editions, 2013. Mentioned: p. 24, p. 26; reproduced: p. 131, pl. 9
    Rondeau, James, Constantijn Petridis, Yaëlle Biro, Herbert M. Cole, Kassim Kone, Babatunde Lawal, Wilfried Van Damme, and Susan Mullin Vogel. The language of beauty in African art. 2022.
    "The Language of Beauty in African Art." Kimbell Art Museum Members' Guide (March–September 2022): 2-7. Reproduced: P. 5
  • The Language of Beauty in African Art. Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX (April 3-July 31, 2022) https://kimbellart.org/exhibition/language-beauty-african-art; The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (organizer) (November 20, 2022-February 27, 2023) https://www.artic.edu/exhibitions/9344/the-language-of-beauty-in-african-art.
    Kunsthaus Zurich, 1970-71: Elsy Leuzinger, "Die Kunst von Schwarz-Afrika"
  • {{cite web|title=Shrine Figure (Ikenga)|url=false|author=|year=possibly early 1900s|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2015.72