Staff Finial
Unknown Artist
This ivory figure, half female and half leopard, appears to represent a founding ancestress of the matrilineal Yombe peoples. The royal woman holds two gourds that may contain potent medicines associated with rulers' occult powers. The snarling leopard, with its serpent-headed forepaws, is a fearsome representation of royal authority and military prowess. Two spiraled staffs flanking the leopard may be royal mvwala staffs drawing power from the earth and ancestral dead. The use of ivory and the warm, red tone of this figure, achieved through the application of red palm oil, make this an object associated with powerful spiritual forces.
Promised gift of Adele and Donald Hall in honor of the 75th anniversary of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art