Ritual Head
Hemba
1850–1900
- Medium
- Wood, animal fur (contemporary facsimile based on period examples), and twine
- Dimensions
- 33.1 × 17.8 × 13.4 cm (13 × 7 × 5 1/4 in.)
- Genre
- sculpture
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago
Styles
Tags
Furstring (fiber product)woodCentral Africaplant materialtwinecord (fiber product)sculpturewood (plant material)african Artarts of Africacarvingritual objectsadhesionceremonial objecthemba
About
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.
