Figurally carved tusk · D. R. Congo, Bakongo/Loango Coast · ID: 3036100
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Description
ivory, figurally decorated with scenes of eyeryday life, arranged in horizontal rows running around, min. dam., missing part at the lower rim, fine cracks, base;
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 Congo 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.
Littérature comparée
Ross, Doran H. (ed.), Elephant, Los Angeles 1992, p. 36