Figurally carved tusk

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Description

ivory, accents of black paint, figural decorated with scenes of eyeryday life and animals, arranged in horizontal rows running all around, min. dam., fine cracks, slight traces of abrasion;
such tusks feature commonplace scenes of contemporary life, especially commercial transactions between whites and blacks. The scenes are depicted in separate vignettes and are not meant to be read as a continous story line. The spiral band acts as ground line for the procession of figures seen in profile. The spiral pattern has a long tradition in the Kongo region and could allude to the path that the people believe the dead follow from earth to the ancestral realm and back again to be reborn.

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Comparing literature

Ross, Doran H. (ed.), Elephant, Los Angeles 1992, p. 36

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