Crucifix
date: label: Date
content: Late 17th-early 18th century
name: label: Maker
content: Kongo artist
notes: label: Label Text
content: The Portuguese arrived along the coast of the Kongo Kingdom in 1483. The missionaries who accompanied these early navigators established a Christian presence that existed until the mid-18th century. Kongo people absorbed some Christian rites and materials into their own practices. Crucifixes made by local casters were derived from early Portuguese prototypes, but Kongo chiefs used them as power tokens without a Christian interpretation.
label: Description
content: Crucifix with a figure of Christ in a loin cloth. Two figures with clasped hands sit atop the crosspiece of the cross. One figure kneels below Christ's crossed feet. A band of incised cross-hatching borders the edge of the cross.
label: Provenance
content: Merton Simpson, New York, -- before 1988
label: Provenance
content: Pat Dierickx, Brussels, 1988
label: Provenance
content: Ernst Anspach, New York, 1988 to 1991
label: Exhibition History
content: Pavilion: A New Look, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., October 9, 2019–ongoing
label: Exhibition History
content: Conversations: African and African American Artworks in Dialogue - From the Collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art and Camille O. and William H. Cosby, Jr., National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, November 7, 2014-January 24, 2016
label: Exhibition History
content: The Earth Moves-We Follow: Celebrating African Art, Frank H. McClung Museum, Knoxville, January 10-May 18, 2003
label: Exhibition History
content: The Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou, Fowler Museum of Cultural History, University of California, Los Angeles, October 22-July 16, 1996; Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, February 1-August 3, 1997; Museum of African American History, Detroit, October 8-December 27, 1997; New Orleans Museum of Art, February 1-April 12, 1998; Baltimore Museum of Art, June 7-August 23, 1998; American Museum of Natural History, New York, October 9, 1998-January 3, 1999
label: Published References
content: Cosentino, Donald J. (ed). 1995. Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou. Los Angeles: Fowler Museum of cultural History, University of California, p. 31, no. 1.8.
label: Published References
content: Dewey, William J. 2003. The World Moves, We Follow: Celebrating African Art. Knoxville: Frank H. McClung Museum, The University of Tennessee, p. 49, no. 52.
label: Published References
content: Kreamer, Christine Mullen and Adrienne L. Childs (eds). 2014. Conversations: African and African American Artworks in Dialogue from the Collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art and Camille O. and William H. Cosby, Jr. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, pp. 102, 113, no. 64, pl. 42.
label: Content Statement
content: As part of our commitment to accessibility and transparency, the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art is placing its collection records online. Please note that some records are incomplete (missing image or content descriptions) and others reflect out-of-date language or systems of thought regarding how to engage with and discuss cultural heritage and the specifics of individual artworks. If you see content requiring immediate action, we will do our best to address it in a timely manner. Please email nmafacuratorial@si.edu if you have any questions.
label: Image Requests
content: High resolution digital images are not available for some objects. For publication quality photography and permissions, please contact the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives at https://africa.si.edu/research/eliot-elisofon-photographic-archives/
place: label: Geography
content: Kongo Central Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo
label: Geography
content: Congo
title: label: Object Name
content: <I>nkangi kiditu</I>
topic: label: Topic
content: male
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African Art Collection
label: On View
content: NMAfA, Pavilion Gallery
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Ernst Anspach
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African Art
identifier: label: Object number
content: 91-10-1
objectType: label: Type
content: Sculpture
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Copper alloy
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D: 33.3 x 14.9 x 2.9 cm (13 1/8 x 5 7/8 x 1 1/8 in.)