Mother and child

A tall cap called mphemba indicates that this mother is worn by an illustrious woman who took on unusual power and responsibility. Her lips part to reveal cosmetically filed teeth and she wears only a tight, beaded cord around her chest. Such figures were placed on tombs of powerful women and could be petitioned in times of trouble.

Wood, glass, and metal

3 1/4 x 3 7/8 x 3 1/4 in. (8.3 x 9.9 x 8.3 cm)

Gift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company

81.17.838

Provenance: [Sulaiman Diané, New York]; purchased from gallery by Katherine White (1929-1980), Seattle, Washington, 1975; bequeathed to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 1981

Photo: Paul Macapia

Now on view at the Seattle Art Museum

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Art from Africa: Long Steps Never Broke a Back, Feb. 7 - May 19, 2002 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Oct. 2, 2004 - Jan. 2, 2005; Hartford, Connecticut, Wadsworth Atheneum, Feb. 12 - June 19, 2005; Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati Art Museum, Oct. 8, 2005 - Jan. 1, 2006; Nashville, Tennessee, Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Jan. 27 - Apr. 30, 2006 [as African Art, African Voices: Long Steps Never Broke a Back]). Text by Pamela McClusky. No cat. no., pp. 160-1, reproduced pl. 80.

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

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