Figurative works
were often an embodiment of royal power.
In all world cultures, artists honor remarkable leaders by creating lasting works of art in their honor.
During the first half of the eighteenth century, the Kuba King Mishe miShyaang maMbul was celebrated throughout his kingdom for his generosity and for the great number of his loyal subjects.
At the height of his reign in 1710, he commissioned an idealized portrait-statue called an ndop, which was eventually purchased by the Brooklyn Museum in 1961 and has been on view at the museum since that time.
Height: 20" x Width: 7 ½" x Depth: 5"
