  
  About the Artwork
  
  
  The maker of this equestrian figure, a male Kongo chief named Voania, epitomizes the hybridization in African art following centuries of interactions with Europeans. In a departure from traditional gender roles, Voania took up pottery, a female profession in Kongo culture, to tap into the lucrative overland trade with Europeans. While he executed his vessels using traditional techniques, they lacked the practicality of Kongo pots, making them unappealing in the local market. Consequently, he focused exclusively on Westerners. His imagery of a suited European trader riding a horse or bull, a familiar figure of the European trade, would have appealed to his French and Belgian clientele. After learning to write, he inscribed his name (Voania) and village (Muba) on his pots, making them attractive as collectible art. Voania&acirc;&#128;&#153;s unconventional approach gained him a steady European patronage from the turn of the 1900s, a testament to his artistic vision and adaptability.
  
  
  Title
  Male Equestrian Figure
  
  
  Artwork Date
  between 1875 and 1910
  
  Artist
  Voania
  
  
  
  Life Dates
  1875 - 1928
  
  
  
  
  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.
  
  
  
  
  Woyo
  
  
  Medium
  Terracotta
  
  
  Dimensions
  Overall: 17 &Atilde;&#151; 10 1/4 &Atilde;&#151; 7 5/16 inches (43.2 &Atilde;&#151; 26 &Atilde;&#151; 18.6 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Sculpture
  
  
  Department
  African Art
  
  
  Credit
  Founders Society Purchase with funds from the Friends of African and African American Art, the Arthur D. Coar Endowment Fund, Joseph H. Boyer Memorial Fund, and the Henry E. and Consuelo S. Wenger Foundation Fund
  
  
  
  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&acirc;&#128;&#153;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&acirc;&#128;&#148;no longer assigned&acirc;&#128;&#148;that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  1994.47
  
  
  Copyright
  Copyright Not Evaluated
  
  
  
