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Souvenir Ivory with Figurative Motifs

Arts of Africa

This souvenir tusk captures a transitional period in Central Africa’s Loango Coast. It would have been commissioned from a Vili carver by an American, Brazilian, Indian, or European employee of a shipping company or other institution stationed there. Vili carvers were famous for intricate ivory carvings executed with iron tools. They exercised significant agency in style and self-representation when filling a patron's order. Here, the artist depicts people and animals likely headed to market. Like Seminole doll-makers, Vili artists reproduced of-the-moment clothing. The figures wear both Loango waist wrappers and European tailored coats. A spiral band references zinga (coil of life), a centuries-old motif from the nearby Kongo kingdom. Blending imagery, Central and Western African artists had carved ivories for local and foreign patrons since the fifteenth century.
CULTURE Vili artist
MEDIUM Hippopotamus tooth, graphite
GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATIONS
DATES late 19th century
DIMENSIONS 16 x 3 x 6 3/4 in. (40.6 x 7.6 x 17.1 cm)  (show scale)
COLLECTIONS Arts of Africa
ACCESSION NUMBER 1991.176
CREDIT LINE Purchase gift of Mrs. Arthur G. Cohen
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
CAPTION Vili artist. Souvenir Ivory with Figurative Motifs, late 19th century. Hippopotamus tooth, graphite, 16 x 3 x 6 3/4 in. (40.6 x 7.6 x 17.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchase gift of Mrs. Arthur G. Cohen, 1991.176. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1991.176.jpg)
IMAGE overall, 1991.176.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
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Vili artist. <em>Souvenir Ivory with Figurative Motifs</em>, late 19th century. Hippopotamus tooth, graphite, 16 x 3 x 6 3/4 in. (40.6 x 7.6 x 17.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchase gift of Mrs. Arthur G. Cohen, 1991.176. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1991.176.jpg)