64 UMMA Objects
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Wooden mask with a superstructure of curling horns with blue pigment. The face of the mask is white and the mouth is open with pointed teeth. Attached below the mouth is a panel of fur, possibly monkey fur. The forehead is dark in color while there is blue pigment above each eye. On each side of the head are possible animal figures or horns, while atop the forehead sits another set of horns or hairstyle that points downward, carved with a spiral design. 
Igbo (Igbo (Southern Nigerian style, culture))
Mask
1900 – 1978
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Robert T. Weston
1978/2.14
This color woodcut is printed on black paper. At the center, there is a white horse with a monkey sitting on its back. Next to the monkey, there is a bright yellow object. A white figure swings from an amorphous shape, outlined in black, coming from the upper right of the image. The background is blue with a green circle to the upper left. The print is titled (l.l.) "Monkey and Lamp", numbered (l.c.) "47/50", signed and dated (l.r.) "A Ryan '45", and dedicated (l.c.) "For Felix III Christmas 1945" in white ink.
Anne Ryan (American (North American))
Monkey and Lamp
1945
Gift of Gerome Kamrowski
1979/2.128
A figure with a pale face and pink cheeks is dressed in colorful and elaborate armor and headdress. He is holding a spear and faces left. The back ground is green filled with white clouds and flowers. 
Chinese (Chinese (culture or style))
Military Door God (Pair with 1989/2.150)
20th century
Gift of Willard A. and Marybelle B. Hanna
1989/2.149
This anthropomorphic <em>nkisi</em>, or power figure, stands upright and features a rather large, forward-tilting head with a prominent, parted mouth, high cheekbones with shallow cheeks, and chipped glass-encrusted lower eyes. A brass tack pierces the figure’s forehead, directly above its nose.  The figure possesses a rectangular torso and robust appendages, although the lower arms and feet are missing. The figure likely held a medicine pack upon its abdomen, evidenced by the four holes bored into its torso, and another one upon its cranium. Around the figure’s neck is a collar, possibly of leather, another place in which medicines are carried.
Vili (Kongo) (Vili)
Power Figure
1845 – 1855
Gift of Candis and Helmut Stern
2005/1.179
This carved, wooden Yaka figure depicts a man standing with an animal perched atop his head. The carving is stylized and exhibits characteristics typically seen among northern Yaka figural representations: flexed knees; arms bent with upturned palms positioned at shoulder level; and, an animal figure upon its head. In this case, the creature has a curved body and appears to be an anteater. The male figure has a narrow, cylindrical body; a slightly protruding belly; a simple coiffure; an elongated face; barely-open eyes from which vertical lines extend downward; a disproportionately large, pointed nose, and a darkened beard.
Yaka (Yaka (Kwango-Kwilu region style))
Figure
1915 – 1925
Gift of Candis and Helmut Stern
2005/1.193
This wooden figure depicts a standing female whose upper body is wrapped with woven fiber and metal rings, while multi-colored beads and metal objects including clips, a pendant, and a smaller ring dangle from her ears. Arms, facial details, a coiffure, and defined toes are not present.  <br />
 
Zande (Zande)
Power Figure
1905 – 1915
Gift of Candis and Helmut Stern
2005/1.236
This carved wooden figure depicts a standing male, and is one of a pair that includes a female figure also carved by the same hand. According to noted art historian Niangi Batulukisi, these two figures deviate from the classical Bembe style and are “an extreme rarity” due to the fact that they are likely connected to an ancient pre-Bembe style.<br /><br />
The male figure’s trunk is disproportionately long, while the legs are slightly flexed at the knees. His facial features includes closed eyes set in round, ocular cavities and a perfectly rounded, open mouth.  The hairstyle bears geometric motifs. Most striking, however, is that medicinal substances have been tied around the male’s entire torso--indeed from his neck to his pelvis--by tightly-wound, resin-covered strings. Moreover, a hole appears on the crown of his head, likely intended for the placement of an animal horn containing even more medicinal ingredients. A small sliver of a white shell appears across the figure’s chest. Traces of tukula powder ca
Bembe (Bembe (Kongo))
Male Figure
1865 – 1875
Gift of Candis and Helmut Stern
2005/1.196.2
Elaborately carved staff with, from the top: a male figure wearing Western-style clothes, with painted eyes, eyebrows, mouth, moustache, hat and clothes, sitting on a simple stool, resting his hands on his knees; a U-shaped snake on one side and a mortar on the other; a pair of a male and a female figure on either side (the male is standing on one leg, bending the other at the knee to make a triangle); a dark black spherical form; a row of three turtles on one side and two salamanders and a frog on the other; and finally three outstretched snakes (painted yellow, brown and red, respectively), one of them eating a small frog.
Kongo (Kongo (culture or style))
Staff
1900 – 1950
Gift of Margaret H. and Albert J. Coudron
2001/2.42
Staff with a short, pointed handle. The top of the handle is surmounted by a rectangle with two inverted triangles. Underneath the triangles is a small face and a neck with four raised grooves.  
Igbo (Igbo (Southern Nigerian style, culture))
Staff
20th century
Gift of Margaret H. and Albert J. Coudron
2001/2.43
This wooden Chokwe staff features a smooth, narrow rod and a large carving of a female figure at its finial.  The female bears an elaborate, ridged coiffure, closed, coffee-bean shaped eyes, raised scarifications on her face, torso, and back, rounded shoulders, arms positioned down by her side, and a protruding navel. 
Chokwe (Chokwe (culture or style))
Staff
1900 – 1950
Gift of Margaret H. and Albert J. Coudron
2001/2.69
This wooden staff has pieces of cloth wrapped on both extensions. One end depicts an abstract anthropomorphic face, while the other appears to function as a handle and is embellished with two strings of black and white beads and a loop of blue and white beads.
Kongo (Kongo (culture or style))
Staff
1900 – 1950
Gift of Margaret H. and Albert J. Coudron
2001/2.73
Bird mask with an elongated beak that is decorated with a carved geometric design. The mask has a protruding nose, forehead, and eyes. The top of the mask has a carved geometric design and a bent nail embedded into the top.&nbsp;
Bird Mask
20th century
Gift of Michael and Phyllis Courlander
2016/1.259
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