Female figure with child

Object Details

Kongo artist

Label Text

The figure of a mother and child is an icon of Kongo art. It is not a simple genre theme, but a statement of the spiritual power supporting society, the need for fertility and the promise of future generations. These figures possibly are connected with mpemba, a women's cult said to have been founded by a famous midwife, and concerned with fertility and the treatment of infertility. Mpemba seems to have grown at the same time the slave trade intensified, from 1770 to 1850; an increased concern for children seems a logical development. There are also ties to the Lemba cult, which also arose during the slave trade period, whose members were the wealthy mercantile elite. Lemba was concerned with healing, trade and marriage relations, and it redistributed potentially disruptive wealth among kin and shrines. Inside a special box, members kept significant cult objects including a sack of red pigment, symbolizing the female element, called pfemba lemba. Red pigment originally was rubbed on these figures; only traces remain.

The figure is seated, legs crossed, atop a small base. This pose conveys the prestige of high political and social status, as do a number of other details. The flaring hairstyle is also a traditional prerequisite of high status, a standing reinforced by the presence of imported European brass tacks, a precious trade item. The imported glass originally inset in the eyes shared the same glittering aesthetic but also refers to the ability to see the invisible spiritual world.

Other attributes of these figures are associated with beauty, perfection and high rank. The chest cord serves to emphasize the breasts. Scarification was viewed as erotic and beautiful; it marked physical maturity and assured conception. The chiseled teeth also were considered beautiful.

A final note should be made concerning the child depicted, which looks more like a small adult rather than a real infant. Leo Bittremieux, priest and ethnographer, in a 1939 letter to the Africa Museum in Tervuren, wrote that "Phemba" denotes "the one who gives children-in-potentia." A pfemba child is a magically conceived nkisi child, a fragile emissary of the spirit world. Because the child is unexpressive and supine, it has been described as dead. Since a number of the infants either nurse at or touch their mother's breast, there are either two different subjects or death takes an unusual definition. On one figure, the child holds his penis erect while touching the mother's breast. The gesture could be a reference to fertility, metaphorically referring to the seeds of creation or to the belief that those who die will be reborn. So death, or the spirit world, may not be estranged from life in Kongo beliefs.

Description

Seated female figure on a rectangular box plinth with a child laid across her crossed legs. The large figure has a fan shaped hat with brass tacks, raised scarification on her chest and an open mouth with shaped teeth. The eyes are cut to hold the now missing glass inserts.

Provenance

Raoul Blondiau, Brussels, after 1900 to before 1926

Theatre Arts Monthly, as the Blondiau Theatre Arts Collection, New York, 1926

Edith J. R. Isaacs, New York, ca. 1927 to death 1956, family collection until 1983

Emile M. Deletaille, Brussels, 1983 to 1985

Exhibition History

Pavilion: A New Look, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., October 9, 2019–ongoing

African Art, New York, and the Avant-Garde, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, November 27, 2012-September 2, 2013

Treasures, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., November 17, 2004-August 15, 2005

Afrcan Negro Art, Museum of Modern Art, New York, March 19-May 19, 1935, no. 443

Published References

Christies East. 1983. Tribal Art and Antiquities. Auction catalogue (May 11). New York, p. 60, no. 296.

Lehuard, Raoul. 1989. Art Bakongo: Les Centres de Style, Vol. II. Arnouville: Arts d'Afrique Noire, p. 565, no. K3-5-4.

Locke, Alain. 1927. Blondiau-Theatre Arts Collection of Primitive African Art. New York: The New Art Circle, no. 19.

The Negro in Art Week. [n.d.,1927-28?]. Chicago: Chicago Woman's Club, Chicago Art Institute, no. 16.

National Museum of African Art. 1999. Selected Works from the Collection of the National Museum of African Art. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, pp. 113-115, no. 178C.

Patton, Sharon F. 2004. Treasures: Smithsonian National Museum of African Art. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution. Folio.

Petridis, Constantijn. 2012. "Art from the Congo." Tribal Art Magazine, Special Issue #3, pp. 36-37, no. 37.

Rossi, Milene C. Les Phemba: une mére un enfant des influences. Saint-Maur-des-Fossés: E´ditions Se´pia.

Sweeney, James Johnson. 1935. African Negro Art. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, no. 443 (not illustrated, misidentified as Bakuba).

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Credit Line

Museum purchase

Late 19th-early 20th century

Object number

85-15-3

Restrictions & Rights

Usage conditions apply

Type

Figure

Medium

Wood, brass tacks, pigment

Dimensions

H x W x D: 24.8 x 8.6 x 7.6 cm (9 3/4 x 3 3/8 x 3 in.)

Geography

Kongo Central Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Cabinda Province, Angola

Congo

See more items in

National Museum of African Art Collection

On View

NMAfA, Pavilion Gallery

National Museum of African Art

Topic

Fertility

mother and child

male

female

Record ID

nmafa_85-15-3

Metadata Usage (text)

Usage conditions apply

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ys70af5a6f0-0525-4f67-82f7-d5b09b893e01