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Source Description
Tobacco smoking had important social connotations in Central Africa, denoting age, status, and gender. Perhaps the enlarged hand expressed physical and spiritual powers and indicates that this work belonged to a chief. Figuratively carved pipes and snuff mortars constitute important genres of Luluwa decorative arts. As personal objects reflecting the prominence and success of their male and sometimes female owners, they are usually the creative work of virtuoso artists and take a variety of often imaginative shapes.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
166211
label
Pipe bowl
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
166211
contentType
object
title
Pipe bowl
description
Tobacco smoking had important social connotations in Central Africa, denoting age, status, and gender. Perhaps the enlarged hand expressed physical and spiritual powers and indicates that this work belonged to a chief. Figuratively carved pipes and snuff mortars constitute important genres of Luluwa decorative arts. As personal objects reflecting the prominence and success of their male and sometimes female owners, they are usually the creative work of virtuoso artists and take a variety of often imaginative shapes.
date
early to mid-1900s
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q79996174
genreSpecific
Tools and Equipment
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 6 x 7.4 x 24 cm (2 3/8 x 2 15/16 x 9 7/16 in.)
cul
Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Luluwa or Luntu maker
accession
2008.152
Source extras
tec
Wood, iron, and copper alloy
tombstone
Pipe bowl, early to mid-1900s. Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Luluwa or Luntu maker. Wood, iron, and copper alloy; overall: 6 x 7.4 x 24 cm (2 3/8 x 2 15/16 x 9 7/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Jo Hershey Selden Fund, 2008.152
collection
African Art
didYouKnow
The cavity for the tobacco is positioned in the belly of a figure who holds himself up with bent arms on the pipe.
citations
citation
Gérard Berjonneau & Jean-Louis Sonnery, eds. Rediscovered Masterpieces of African Art (Boulogne: ARTS 135/Paris: Fondation Dapper, 1987), fig. 292.
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: P. 41
citation
Petridis, Constantijn. Luluwa: Central African Art between Heaven and Earth. 2018, 169.
page_number
Reproduced; p. 169, fig. 146
citation
Rondeau, James, Constantijn Petridis, Yaëlle Biro, Herbert M. Cole, Kassim Kone, Babatunde Lawal, Wilfried Van Damme, and Susan Mullin Vogel. <em>The language of beauty in African art. </em>2022.
creditline
Jo Hershey Selden Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 08:34:51.142000
sourceId
166211
dept
African Art
coll
African Art
med
Wood, iron, and copper alloy
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
05a532e3bd90a748