Hi Alex
I was confused with Rands post I thought your piece is the one whose picture he
has
attached to his
mail(http://www.rand.african.arts.com/images/benin_queen_head.jpg)
now i see that he added that as an example
Alex I sent you a personal mail telling you what I Know about your carving the
wood used
is called locally "black and white afara or "tiger ebony" by the Benin
carvers,this type of
wood is valued by the carvers because of its distinctive stripes of colour which
adds a
more interesting look to the carving when it is finished and polished
My sculpture friends both in  Benin and lagos told me that they opted for this
wood
because pure black ebony is now quite rare and expensive to use so this is a
less
expensive alternative (I find the finishing of the black and white afara more
appealing)
which brings us to the issue of the 1940's date though it is not impossible that
the carving
can date from that age but i believe that if it was actually carved at that time
the chances
are that it would have been carved with ebony of a much darker hue because then
is was
easier to get
Carvings of this kind  are carved  in their millions for the tourist trade
usually it comes as
a pair of a male and female and it  is usually one of the few kind of sculpture
that one
finds in homes in the southern part of Nigeria being used as decor but it
becoming less
popular and I find a lot of them discarded by their previous owners the ones to
look out
for are the ones carved with pure black ebony(one has to be careful though
because
nowadays the carvers usually carve with other inferior wood that is stained with
a black
dye) pure ebony is much heavier and the wood very hard and insect resistant

Hello:
This piece came to me from an import shop owner who purchased the
shop in 1947 in Florida from a previous owner and this piece was in
the shop at the time.
I would like to thank everyone for there response in helping to
identify the origin of this piece. With a special thanks to Moyo,
Rand, and Felix. (now I can properly label the photos)

                          Thanks Again; Kat

Hi Moyo,
could you explain the connection of why a sculptor from Benin or
Nigeria (as it says on the bottom of the statue)would carve a
representation of a Mangbetu woman? As you know there is a massive
geographical distance between the two and I just cannot place why a
native or a European carver would be carving Mangbetu women in
Nigeria.
I still stand by the theory of it being inspired by the statue that
Rand mentioned. If you look at the shape of the hair it is much more
similar to that of Rands statue than anything I have seen
representing a Mangbetu, who forcibly elongate the BACK of their
skulls by binding and not the top as this statue shows.
  This figure we are discussing shows the hair/head going perfectly
vertical as far as I can tell, however a Mangbetu head would not be
like this but rather at more of an angle.
I do however agree that it is a very skillful and pleasant piece of
work.
Cheers
Craig




--- In African_Arts@yahoogroups.com, MOYOSORE OKEDIJI <okdg@p...>
wrote:
> Dear Felix:
>
> Because of the form of my responsibility as a museum curator, I
usually don't get dragged into issues of authentification and
appraisal, but what a wonderful head you are sharing with us! It is
an exquisite representation of the Mangbetu woman, and I really
admire the craftmanship and attention to details. I believe that it
is missionary art, executed by a European artist exoticizing an
African woman in the spirit of Orientalism. I dare say that it is
different from the ebony "from the forties." A little bit of
bacground history here:
>
> When the British sacked Benin City in 1897 and exiled Oba
Ovenramwen Nogbaise, they removed thousands of objects in brass and
other materials, and disbanded the sculptors who worked for the royal
court. The kingdom was left without an oba for several decades, and
the sculptors were scattered throughout the land, without a patron.
For a living, some of these sculptors began to carve for the public,
although they were trained to work exclusively for the king. These
sculptors focused on ebony carving, because the wood was available in
large quantities in the forest of the Benin kingdom. When the British
allowed the coronation of Oba Akenzua the second (in 1914?), he
reassembled what was left of the royal sculptors,and created
workshops for many of them to work for the general public. The
sculptors, who continue to work till today in such workshop settings,
produced images that continue in the Edo  (or Benin) idiom of
expression, and the work presented for identification is a product of
>  that workshop. It is not missionary inspired, and it is not
strictly an art of the royal court of Benin.     Please ignore my
typos, because I have to run now.
>
> Moyo
>
> Felix Djerzinski <tche-ka@w...> wrote:
> --- In African_Arts@yahoogroups.com, "tkalextkalex"
<tkalextkalex@y...>
> wrote:
> >              can someone from the group help in identifying this
> > carving.     thanks.
> Hi,
> Your head seems to be one of  these numerous ebony
> carvings done before WW2 in carving schools established
> by missionaries.
> They were sold as " exotic " decoration pieces throurough
> europe for the benefit of the missions.
> They dont depict a peculiar ethnie and often combine
> different styles.
> In attachment is a ceramic from Andrea circa 1925 some sort
> of prototyp for the missions heads.
> Felix.
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS
>
>
>     Visit your group "African_Arts" on the web.
>
>     To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
>  African_Arts-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
>     Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of
Service.
>
>
> ---------------------------------

Moyo,
my apologies, I think I confused the issue somewhat too. I did read
your post and write mine very early in the morning! :-)
Cheers
Craig


--- In African_Arts@yahoogroups.com, MOYOSORE OKEDIJI <okdg@p...>
wrote:
> I hope I did not confuse the issues. In short, my interpretation is
that the terracotta portrait posted by Felix is a western artist's
orientalism of the Mangbetu woman; and the wooden bust posted by
tkalex is an authenitc Benin art object, post-1897 era.
>
> Veronique Martelliere <proximatribal@y...> wrote:Bonjour, Moyo !
> Though it was not addressed to me, I would like to thank you for
your last message which  contains so many interesting informations
and which I enjoyed reading.
> Be well !
> Véro
>
> MOYOSORE OKEDIJI <okdg@p...> wrote:
> Dear Felix:
>
> Because of the form of my responsibility as a museum curator, I
usually don't get dragged into issues of authentification and
appraisal, but what a wonderful head you are sharing with us! It is
an exquisite representation of the Mangbetu woman, and I really
admire the craftmanship and attention to details. I believe that it
is missionary art, executed by a European artist exoticizing an
African woman in the spirit of Orientalism. I dare say that it is
different from the ebony "from the forties." A little bit of
bacground history here:
>
> When the British sacked Benin City in 1897 and exiled Oba
Ovenramwen Nogbaise, they removed thousands of objects in brass and
other materials, and disbanded the sculptors who worked for the royal
court. The kingdom was left without an oba for several decades, and
the sculptors were scattered throughout the land, without a patron.
For a living, some of these sculptors began to carve for the public,
although they were trained to work exclusively for the king. These
sculptors focused on ebony carving, because the wood was available in
large quantities in the forest of the Benin kingdom. When the British
allowed the coronation of Oba Akenzua the second (in 1914?), he
reassembled what was left of the royal sculptors,and created
workshops for many of them to work for the general public. The
sculptors, who continue to work till today in such workshop settings,
produced images that continue in the Edo  (or Benin) idiom of
expression, and the work presented for identification is a product of
>  that workshop. It is not missionary inspired, and it is not
strictly an art of the royal court of Benin.     Please ignore my
typos, because I have to run now.
>
> Moyo
>
> Felix Djerzinski <tche-ka@w...> wrote:
> --- In African_Arts@yahoogroups.com, "tkalextkalex"
<tkalextkalex@y...>
> wrote:
> >              can someone from the group help in identifying this
> > carving.     thanks.
> Hi,
> Your head seems to be one of  these numerous ebony
> carvings done before WW2 in carving schools established
> by missionaries.
> They were sold as " exotic " decoration pieces throurough
> europe for the benefit of the missions.
> They dont depict a peculiar ethnie and often combine
> different styles.
> In attachment is a ceramic from Andrea circa 1925 some sort
> of prototyp for the missions heads.
> Felix.
>
>
>
> SPONSORED LINKS
> Art culture Organizational culture Object
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
> http://mail.yahoo.com
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS
>
>
>     Visit your group "African_Arts" on the web.
>
>     To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
>  African_Arts-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
>     Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of
Service.
>
>
> ---------------------------------

Chubb has a Valuable Articles policy with interesting cataloguing software
called Masterpiece Manager that even allows one to specify works on loan.  But I
don't know for certain how they handle appraisals exactly.  It may only be
possible to be insured for the documented cost/purchase price although they did
not delimit the approved appraisers so this may not be so;  but at least there
is a good photo and database format for documenting a collection.

Lee

Hello: I am enlightened by all of the cooperation and sense of
community with this site. You all have been most helpfull in my
quest to figure the origin of this piece. I know for a fact that the
piece is pre-1947 because that is when a friend of the family bought
an import shop that already held the piece. In everything I have
read I too believe this was probably carved in a workshop in Benin,I
also found the following website and am curious as to your opinins
if this might have been modeled after a Yoruba maternity figure?
Just thought I'd toss in a curve ball. Have a good Day.

http://hamillgallery.com/YORUBA/YorubaMaternityFigures/YorubaMaternit
y.html
                               Tim&Kat

  --- In African_Arts@yahoogroups.com, "Craig Lewis"
<craig_n_emma@y...> wrote:
> Moyo,
> my apologies, I think I confused the issue somewhat too. I did
read
> your post and write mine very early in the morning! :-)
> Cheers
> Craig
>
>
> --- In African_Arts@yahoogroups.com, MOYOSORE OKEDIJI <okdg@p...>
> wrote:
> > I hope I did not confuse the issues. In short, my interpretation
is
> that the terracotta portrait posted by Felix is a western artist's
> orientalism of the Mangbetu woman; and the wooden bust posted by
> tkalex is an authenitc Benin art object, post-1897 era.
> >
> > Veronique Martelliere <proximatribal@y...> wrote:Bonjour, Moyo !
> > Though it was not addressed to me, I would like to thank you for
> your last message which  contains so many interesting informations
> and which I enjoyed reading.
> > Be well !
> > Véro
> >
> > MOYOSORE OKEDIJI <okdg@p...> wrote:
> > Dear Felix:
> >
> > Because of the form of my responsibility as a museum curator, I
> usually don't get dragged into issues of authentification and
> appraisal, but what a wonderful head you are sharing with us! It
is
> an exquisite representation of the Mangbetu woman, and I really
> admire the craftmanship and attention to details. I believe that
it
> is missionary art, executed by a European artist exoticizing an
> African woman in the spirit of Orientalism. I dare say that it is
> different from the ebony "from the forties." A little bit of
> bacground history here:
> >
> > When the British sacked Benin City in 1897 and exiled Oba
> Ovenramwen Nogbaise, they removed thousands of objects in brass
and
> other materials, and disbanded the sculptors who worked for the
royal
> court. The kingdom was left without an oba for several decades,
and
> the sculptors were scattered throughout the land, without a
patron.
> For a living, some of these sculptors began to carve for the
public,
> although they were trained to work exclusively for the king. These
> sculptors focused on ebony carving, because the wood was available
in
> large quantities in the forest of the Benin kingdom. When the
British
> allowed the coronation of Oba Akenzua the second (in 1914?), he
> reassembled what was left of the royal sculptors,and created
> workshops for many of them to work for the general public. The
> sculptors, who continue to work till today in such workshop
settings,
> produced images that continue in the Edo  (or Benin) idiom of
> expression, and the work presented for identification is a product
of
> >  that workshop. It is not missionary inspired, and it is not
> strictly an art of the royal court of Benin.     Please ignore my
> typos, because I have to run now.
> >
> > Moyo
> >
> > Felix Djerzinski <tche-ka@w...> wrote:
> > --- In African_Arts@yahoogroups.com, "tkalextkalex"
> <tkalextkalex@y...>
> > wrote:
> > >              can someone from the group help in identifying
this
> > > carving.     thanks.
> > Hi,
> > Your head seems to be one of  these numerous ebony
> > carvings done before WW2 in carving schools established
> > by missionaries.
> > They were sold as " exotic " decoration pieces throurough
> > europe for the benefit of the missions.
> > They dont depict a peculiar ethnie and often combine
> > different styles.
> > In attachment is a ceramic from Andrea circa 1925 some sort
> > of prototyp for the missions heads.
> > Felix.
> >
> >
> >
> > SPONSORED LINKS
> > Art culture Organizational culture Object
> > __________________________________________________
> > Do You Yahoo!?
> > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
> > http://mail.yahoo.com
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------------
> > YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS
> >
> >
> >     Visit your group "African_Arts" on the web.
> >
> >     To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> >  African_Arts-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> >
> >     Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of
> Service.
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------------

Could I please get some input on the cleaning of wooden pieces.
Thanks.
Lori

Hi Lori,
my advice about cleaning most pieces is "don't"!.

All I do is to wave a cloth near a piece to gently blow excess dust
from it. If a piece has anything delicate about it then it's best to
leave alone or even better if the piece is small enough invest in a
glass cabinet to cut down on the amount of dust etc that will fall onto
it.

We had a discussion about displaying not too long ago, my display
cabinet came from Ikea and has 4 glass sides and glass shelves and also
a low wattage light to illuminate the cabinet. I only have to clean
inside the cabinet once a month or so.

Hope this helps a little !

Cheers
Craig





-- In African_Arts@yahoogroups.com, "lorimor29" <lorimor29@y...> wrote:
> Could I please get some input on the cleaning of wooden pieces.
> Thanks.
> Lori

Hi All: I don't know if the following information will be helpful to
many,but I do want to share it with you.I don't have a big
collection,but what I have I usually just dust with soft bristle paint
brushes.That said,I found out that the National Museum of African Art
at the Smithsonian in DC has conservation clinics.I haven't checked it
out further yet,but perhaps they have information we can obtain on
line also.If anyone knows more please share it with all of us.July
clinic is the 21st @2PM,August is the 18th @2PM,I beleive you have to
call and make a reservation.Telephone # 202-633-4646.If I can get more
information I'll post it.Regards to all,Ron

We have just posted a new issue of our blog newsletter, Tribal Artery.

Subjects range from high-value Australian Aboriginal paintings on eBay
to the care and feeding of African tribal art to Indian Market and
other Indian gatherings to the Navajo Kinaalda' ceremony.

Enjoy it at http://www.tribalartery.blogspot.com

Feedback is always welcome and sometimes appreciated, B>)

I have a question about cracks, that is perhaps much ado
about nothing :-).

Does inspecting the interior surfaces of cracks provide any
clues regarding an object's age? I've observed thickly
encrusted objects that appear to be extremely old (a Banywa
King and Queen pair comes to mind), but was made suspicious--
perhaps without justification--by the fresh, "virginal"
looking crack interiors that suggested otherwise ...

One more data point?

Cheerio,
Gary Croft
Snohomish, WA, USA

Hi Gary,
I would love to see a "before" picture if you have one.
I don't know if you have devalued the mask by cleaning it, after all
I suppose the black grease(or whatever it may have been) would have
been intentionally put there over the years (??)so some people would
still have prefered it in its used state.But then I don't know how
bad it was either.
I think this is irrellevant to a certain degree because you took a
step that I wouldn't have been brave enough to do and you have a
fantastic mask to show for it.
Cheers
Craig


--- In African_Arts@yahoogroups.com, GARYGLS2000@a... wrote:
> Craig's advice to Lori about not cleaning "most" pieces is correct.
However, occasionally an exception comes along. Several years ago I
acquired a very old mask from Guinea covered with decades of heavy
black grease and dirt. It was difficult to tell whether it was plain
wood or wood covered with metal. I took a big chance, violating all
the rules about taking care of African art and cleaned it. Much to my
surprise, it turned out to be an old metal covered mask with glass
mirrors. Pascal Imperato later identified it as an extremely rare
Malinke Djankouran Koun mask. These masks are generally made of
perishable matrerials such as cloth, leaves or fiber. I've posted the
mask  in the "Pictures" section under "GLS."
>
> Gary

Gary,
you were right to be suspicious about the pieces you mentioned.
It is something I always look at if there is a piece with a crack, if
it is an old crack then the dust,grime etc would also have settled in
the crack and the wood would look drier and be a different colour to
newly exposed wood.
In certain conditions old wood could split and reveal fresher looking
wood in a crack, but most of the time it is a new crack in a new
piece.
I have noticed that some sellers (both on the web and on e-bay) often
describe these cracks as "age cracks", giving the impression that the
have cracked because they are old. The truth is it can happen to
brand new pieces.
Hope this is useful,
Cheers
Craig






--- In African_Arts@yahoogroups.com, <gcroft@y...> wrote:
> I have a question about cracks, that is perhaps much ado
> about nothing :-).
>
> Does inspecting the interior surfaces of cracks provide any
> clues regarding an object's age? I've observed thickly
> encrusted objects that appear to be extremely old (a Banywa
> King and Queen pair comes to mind), but was made suspicious--
> perhaps without justification--by the fresh, "virginal"
> looking crack interiors that suggested otherwise ...
>
> One more data point?
>
> Cheerio,
> Gary Croft
> Snohomish, WA, USA

Definately sounds like you did the right thing!!
I think you got yourself a great mask, I've never seen anything quite
like it before.
Cheers
Craig

--- In African_Arts@yahoogroups.com, GARYGLS2000@a... wrote:
> Craig, the mask was so filthy, broken and grease-covered that my
first
> thought was to give it away rather than try to clean it. I received
it in a  trade
> where I had no choice but to accept it in place of a fake piece I
had  bought
> by mistake. The black grease was not put on it deliberately. It was
the
> result of generations of neglect. The mask had apparently been
stored in the  eaves
> of a roof where it was subjected to smoke and grease from cooking
over  many
> many years.
>
> Gary

Dear friends,`
On the subject of cleaning of pieces we are divided in two
or more categories :
Those who wont touch a piece and those who wants to restore
the original aspect of the item.
The worst exemple is given by the pieces in the
books or by the famous  ³ Sotheby¹s finish ³.
In the past antique pieces of african art where systematically
cleaned, leaving the bare wood, and then protected by
some sort of varnish or beeswaxs.
Among museum curators the threat of xylophages leads
to a radical treatment: immersion during two hours in a
boiling bath of liquid paraffin !
That is why almost ancient objects looks the same finish !
For us who had studied african art on book or in museums
this kind of finish seems natural.
On the field it¹s completly different.
Discarded pieces are buried among refuses heap exposed
to rain and sun and termites and so on.
Here you can see bare wood without any patina.
Out of fashion pieces are keept in the hut, attached to the roof
and after times are completly covered with a greasy/smoky stain.
Altar pieces and fetishes are keept in secluded places and
as they are honoured at each important time are covered
with blood spots , runs out of eggs or sorghum beer even
spits of food.
But some other types of sculpture are periodicaly washed
clean and then gets a new coulour coating and reoiling.
Jo Nielienys and Gwandusus are perfect exemples of this practice.
Masks intended to be worn in secret ceremonies such as initiation
are, unless new ones, seldom clean.
Dancing masks as those used in harvest or hunting celebrations
are systematically cleaned fresh and got a new coat of color
before the feast where they appeared as new.
So we can find unnumerous kinds of finishes on our pieces.
We can leave them as is, just blowing off the dust.
For my part I think that any african piece should appear as
It was when in tribal and ritual use.
But unless I am very certain of what kind of a piece I got
in my hands an what are his functions and original finish
I will not attempt any refurbishing !
Victor.

The wealth of knowledge of the participants of this site is
extraordinary!!  If I may tap into it one more time...the mask in
picture 3 of my photos (lorimor29) has a small cloth pouch nailed on
the forehead.  This sack is filled with some sort of granular
material (sand?  powder?).  Has anyone come across anything like this
before or know what the purpose of the pouch would be?  Any input
would be appreciated.
Lori

The wealth of knowledge of the participants of this site is
extraordinary!!  If I may tap into it one more time...the mask in
picture 3 of my photos (lorimor29) has a small cloth pouch nailed on
the forehead.  This sack is filled with some sort of granular 
material (sand?  powder?).  Has anyone come across anything like this
before or know what the purpose of the pouch would be?  Any input
would be appreciated.
Lori

Lori,

I'm not sure if you have posted the photo in your folder? I can not seem to find an item that matches the description of the item you mention below?

RAND

lorimor29 <lorimor29@...> wrote:

The wealth of knowledge of the participants of this site is
extraordinary!!  If I may tap into it one more time...the mask in
picture 3 of my photos (lorimor29) has a small cloth pouch nailed on
the forehead.  This sack is filled with some sort of granular 
material (sand?  powder?).  Has anyone come across anything like this
before or know what the purpose of the pouch would be?  Any input
would be appreciated.
Lori