Cleveland Museum of Art

Staff

The Baboon Master

Date

1800s–1900s

Medium

Wood

Culture

Africa, South Africa, South Africa or Mozambique, probably Tsonga peoples

Department

African Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Arguably the finest surviving carving of the Baboon Master in a Western collection, this staff features exceptionally sophisticated articulation and detailing. The circular pokerwork motif on one side—which echoes the treatment of the ears on the male heads supporting the baboon—may represent a shield or a leaf. The heads feature the characteristic ornament that signifies maturity and marriage; covered with a mixture of gum, charcoal, and oil, this hairdo, called isicoco, employed a fiber or sinew ring into which the wearer’s hair was woven. Artists working on the African continent often moved from place to place; the artist nicknamed The Baboon Master was of the Tsonga culture and worked in the Zulu kingdom.

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