Male Figure

19th century

Kongo, African

On View

African, Level 1, North Wing

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About the Artwork

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Markings

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Provenance

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Published References

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Catalogue Raisonné

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Credit Line for Reproduction

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Audio Transcript

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About the Artwork

Carved from steatite, this stately figure once served to both mark the grave and honor the memory of an important Kongo chief. The subject's chiefly status is conveyed by his distinctive decorated prestige cap. But the fact that the figure also wears a nineteenth-century European frock coat and carries a briefcase suggests that it depicts someone of considerable influence who may have benefited from the European trade.

The figure wears the coat over a traditional loin wrapper. Such blending of indigenous and foreign dress conventions underscores the critical roles assigned to individual components in the symbolic language of display. Having acquired wealth, he probably could afford a Western coat, which would have been expensive because of its rarity. The appropriation of the coat as a symbol of prestige suggests attempts by members of the Kongo elite to adopt European fashion as an indication of their worldliness. Or, the chief may have received the coat as a gift from a European because of his political stature.

Nii O. Quarcoopome

From Through African Eyes: The European in African Art, 1500 to Present. Detroit, 2009.

Title Male Figure

Artwork Date 19th century

Artist ----------

Life Dates ----------

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. African

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Kongo

Medium Carved steatite or soapstone, polychromed

Dimensions Overall: 20 1/4 × 7 1/8 × 4 13/16 inches (51.4 × 18.1 × 12.2 cm)

Classification Sculpture

Department African Art

Credit Gift of Frederick Stearns

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 90.1S14462

Markings

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Provenance

Frederick Stearns [1831-1907] (Detroit, Michigan, USA);
1890-present, gift to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

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Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

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Published References

African Masterworks In The Detroit Institute of Arts. Washington and London, 1995, cat. no. 55.

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

Kongo, African, Male Figure, 19th century, carved steatite or soapstone, polychromed. Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of Frederick Stearns, 90.1S14462.