Figurally carved tusk, around 1900 ·  D. R. Congo / Angola, Loango · ID: 3048539

Description

ivory, base

The carvings of this impressive tusk are of high artistic quality.

It is carved with a surrounding sprial band and figures that cover the entire object in a dense sequence. They show local porters and colonial lords on horseback or drinking while sitting on a chair.

The depictions on such tusks were not so much a neutral reflection of the reality of the time, but were rather meant as an ironic or accusatory comment by the artist on the world around him.

Such tusks, known as “Loango tusks” (after the old Loango Kingdom that existed in the area from the fifteenth to nineteenth centuries) were carved for early travellers to the region.

Comparing literature

Ross, Doran H. (ed.), Elephant, Los Angeles 1992, p. 38, 1-64

Notices

This object is subject to CITES. Please note that it can only be sent within the European Union. At the present time export in third countries is prohibited, respectively, export licenses in third countries for objects containing or made of protected materials are only granted under stringent conditions.