Staff (Induku) with a Maternity Figure Artist: Baboon Master (South African, active late 19th–early 20th century)

1890–1910

African Art

By appointment, Wurtele Study Center
Medium

Wood

Dimensions

43 × 3 1/8 × 2 in. (109.2 × 7.9 × 5.1 cm)

Credit Line

The Heinz Family Fund

Accession Number

2022.44.1

Geography

Durban or Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa

Culture

Tsonga

Period

19th–20th century

Classification

Sculpture

Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance
Private collection, England; by descent within the family to Melvin Goldsmith, Maldon, England, by 2003 [see note 1]; sale, Sotheby's, New York, November 14, 2003, lot 103; sold to Jacaranda, New York (Dori Rootenberg and Danial Rootenberg), November 14, 2003; sold to Amy Lawrence (née Amy Bunim, 1930–2017) and Elliot Lawrence (1925–2021), New York, April 13, 2017; sale, Sotheby's, New York, May 24, 2022, lot 93; sold to the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn., 2022.

Note 1: Melvin Goldsmith inherited the “Staff with Finial in the Form of a Maternity Figure” from his grandfather, who had acquired it in the United Kingdom and owned it for at least 40 years, before the object’s transfer to Goldsmith (see February 7, 2003 letter from Goldsmith in curatorial object file).
Bibliography
  • James Green, "Contextualizing 'Zulu' Sculpture: Notes on a Ceremonial Axe and Staff from Southeast Africa," Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin (2022–23), 102, 104–5, fig. 5–6
  • Sotheby's, New York, The Amy & Elliot Lawrence Collection, sale cat. (May 24, 2022), fig. lot 93
  • Constantine Petridis, The Art of Daily Life: Portable Objects from Southeast Africa, exh. cat. (Milan and Cleveland: 5 Continents Editions, 2011), 76, ill
  • Sotheby's, New York, African and Oceanic Art, sale cat. (November 14, 2003), 106, fig. lot 103
Object copyright
No Copyright - United States
Additional information

Object/Work type

figures (representations), staffs

Subject

maternity

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