Cleveland Museum of Art

Scepter

Date

late 1800s or early 1900s

Medium

Wood, copper alloy, upholstery studs, iron alloy, and cotton

Culture

Africa, Central Africa, Angola, Ovimbundu-style maker

Department

African Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Staffs and scepters as well as tobacco pipes and mortars are among the most important sculptural creations to stem from the Ovimbundu peoples, a Central African culture. All of these object types have associations with ideas of class, status, and power. This scepter has a handle wrapped in thin copper wire that forms wide bands of alternating metal and wooden passages. Its finial is a human head whose carved headdress or hairstyle is ornamented with round-headed metal tacks.

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.