Ladle with Carved Head1930–194010 1/4 × 4 3/4 × 1 1/4"Paint, nails, woodGift of Elizabeth Ross Johnson1985.35.360Very simple and smoothly carved large spoon or ladle with finial carved in the shape of a man's head and painted black; constructed of single piece of wood. The wide bowl narrows to 3" 1 square neck. The squared head is carved facing away from bowl; incised mouth, slightly raised cheeks, rectangular nose in shallow relief and tiny nails hammered into slight depressions for eyes.1529161008Artist unidentifiedTools and Equipmenthttp://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster23268WilmingtonWilmingtonUnited StatesUnited StatesNorth CarolinaThree Dimensional WorksWilmingtonObject information is a work in progress and may be updated with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk Art Museum welcomes additional information.
To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.orgThis ladle, with its smoothly carved surface and carved head finial, clearly derives from the African American community whose traditions were established in the slave populations of the South. As a people who had worked with wood for centuries, stylistic embellishemnts were inevitable. The totemic powers of pieces such as this, however, go back further to remembered African myths and rituals. Some of these influences have already been filtered through the West Indies and a Haitian influence in the style and symbolism of the simply carved human head, usually seen in cane carving, is in evidence here. William Rogers, a carver from the Darien, Georgia area, often used human heads as end pieces for his carvings. He used tiny nails as eyes and is known to have painted the figures black to represent their race. Found in Wilmington, North Carolina.http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster23268http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster23268http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster2326819301940 1985 35 36 Object information is a work in progress and may be updated with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk Art Museum welcomes additional information.
To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.orgThis ladle, with its smoothly carved surface and carved head finial, clearly derives from the African American community whose traditions were established in the slave populations of the South. As a people who had worked with wood for centuries, stylistic embellishemnts were inevitable. The totemic powers of pieces such as this, however, go back further to remembered African myths and rituals. Some of these influences have already been filtered through the West Indies and a Haitian influence in the style and symbolism of the simply carved human head, usually seen in cane carving, is in evidence here. William Rogers, a carver from the Darien, Georgia area, often used human heads as end pieces for his carvings. He used tiny nails as eyes and is known to have painted the figures black to represent their race. Found in Wilmington, North Carolina.