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Source Description
Carved elephant ivory tusks and hippopotamus tooth ivory—whether large, or small, like this example—were sought-after souvenirs for Europeans who visited, lived, or worked on the coast of Central Africa. Vili carvers had been sculpting ivory for centuries. In the age of European commerce and colonialism, they created carefully observed tusks with representations of everyday life for European clients. While commissions, they also reflected what the artists chose to represent about their own societies, and sometimes about Europeans. In this small tusk, we see Congolese individuals wearing various clothing, from local-style waist wrappers to European brimmed hats.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
144311
label
Carving
core
obj
dtoType
sculpture
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
144311
contentType
sculpture
title
Carving
description
Carved elephant ivory tusks and hippopotamus tooth ivory—whether large, or small, like this example—were sought-after souvenirs for Europeans who visited, lived, or worked on the coast of Central Africa. Vili carvers had been sculpting ivory for centuries. In the age of European commerce and colonialism, they created carefully observed tusks with representations of everyday life for European clients. While commissions, they also reflected what the artists chose to represent about their own societies, and sometimes about Europeans. In this small tusk, we see Congolese individuals wearing various clothing, from local-style waist wrappers to European brimmed hats.
date
c. 1900
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q79921329
genreSpecific
Sculpture
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 17.8 cm (7 in.)
cul
Central Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kongo, early 20th century
accession
1969.138
Source extras
tec
ivory
tombstone
Carving, c. 1900. Central Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kongo, early 20th century. Ivory; overall: 17.8 cm (7 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Charles E. Roseman, 1969.138
collection
African Art
didYouKnow
The spiral composition of this artwork has been used on carved ivories in the Kingdom of Kongo since the 1500s.
creditline
Gift of Mrs. Charles E. Roseman
updatedAt
2026-05-29 07:24:34.975000
sourceId
144311
dept
African Art
coll
African Art
med
ivory
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
0a6965bd395ae860