FEATURE more scenes and figures that could be carved onto a tusk, the more lucrative the operation became. This could explain the sometimes incredible positions in which figures are rendered to be able to fit them onto the tusk (figs. 18 and 19). Unfortunately, we have very little detailed information on how exactly the tusks were worked. One of the few sources we do have is a photograph by Robert Visser21 of a sculptor, who is seen with some chisels and gouges on his left (fig. 20). As far as the carving technique is concerned, it appears that the artist began by abrading the exterior surface of the tusk. The designs of the scenes were then probably sketched on with a pen or a pencil, and these were then carved in low relief using increasingly finer tools as the work progressed. On a number of tusks, details are selectively drawn in using a black pigment. Only clothing, hair, eyes, and animal fleeces are accentuated, and these with a limited selection of handrendered patterns, which are limited to a few basic forms. Clothing, for example, is decorated with lines, squares, and double circles. Animal fleeces and human hair are often rendered as small shallow dots rubbed with black pigment. We do not know how many ivory sculptors and workshops were functioning on the Loango coast. A witness who had actually been there between 1885 and 1888 stated that there were only fourteen active ivory sculptors in Loango and that they protected their professional status with a kind of union that regulated the number of its members (Bridges, 2009: 42). Considering the manner in which the manufacture of various forms of art in Africa was organized, the chances are indeed good that the Loango ivories were sculpted in workshops in which several artists collaborated. After comparing some 200 tusks all over the world, Bridges observed an identical sculptural style in some cases, suggesting that the works in question might have been by the same artist. This comparative analysis makes it possible to make even more significant associations with regard to the choice of sculptural subjects. These support the idea that workshops existed in which artists could create in a climate that allowed emulation. Comparison of the tusks clearly shows that in addition to the master sculptors, there were also less talented ones. However, this disparity in quality also could be an indication that certain FIG. 21 (near right): Detail of the tusk in fig. 7: A man is attacked by a boa constrictor while another man tries to help him. 128 FIG. 22 (far right): Detail of the tusk in fig. 2: A man is attacked by a crocodile while he holds it by the tail. sculptors working alone participated in the market, perhaps seeking to ride the wave of popularity the Loango ivories had with Europeans. To conclude this analysis, I hope that the historical value and artistic interest of Loango ivories is no longer debatable. They are a mature artistic expression born of contact and are remarkably well made, even if there are some gray areas surrounding the particular circumstances in which they were created as well as in their meanings. We hope that these questions will serve as the basis for much needed further research in this area. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bassani, Ezio and William Fagg (1988). Africa and the Renaissance: Art in Ivory. New York, Center for African Art. Bastian, Adolf (1874). Die deutsche Expedition an der Loango-Küste nebst älteren Nachrichten über die zu erforschenden Länder. Erster Band. Jena, Hermann Costenoble. Bridges, Nichole N. (2009). “Contact, Commentary, and Kongo Memory: Souvenir Ivories from Africa’s Loango Coast.“ Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Wisconsin, Madison. Faber, Paul; Sonja Wijs; and Daan van Dartel (2011). Africa at the Tropenmuseum. Amsterdam, KIT Publishers. Feith, Jan (1910). Het verhaal van den Afrika-Reiziger. Zijnde de geschiedenis van den heer L.J. Goddefroy, zooals ze werd beschreven in het “Algemeen Handelsblad,” in the series ”De verhalen van anderen.” Amsterdam: selfpublished, not commercially available. Friedman, Kajsa Ekholm (1991). Catastrophe and Creation. The Transformation of an African Culture. Chur etc., Harwood Academic Publishers. Graburn, Nelson H. H. (ed.) (1976). Ethnic and Tourist Arts: Cultural Expressions from the Fourth World. Berkeley, University of California Press. Jenkins, Della (2003). “Nineteenth-Century Loango Coast Ivories.” Ph.D. Dissertation, University of California, Santa Barbara. Jules-Rosette, Bennetta (1984). The Messages of Tourist Art: An African Semiotic System in Comparative Perspective. New York, Plenum. Lang, Herbert (1919). “Famous Ivory Treasures of a Negro King.” The American Museum Journal, pp. 527–552. Lips, Julius (1983). Der Weisse im Spiegel der Farbigen. Leipzig, Veb. E. A. Seemann. Mack, John (1990). Emil Torday and the Art of the Congo, 1900–1909. Seattle, University of Washington Press. Martin, Phyllis (1972). The External Trade of the Loango Coast, 1576–1870. The Effects of Changing Commercial Relations on the Vili Kingdom of Loango. Oxford, Clarendon Press. Muller, Hendrik (1977). Muller, een Rotterdams Zeehandelaar: Hendrik Muller Szn. (1819–1898). Schiedam, Interbook International. Nicolls, Andrea (1998). A Spiral of History. A Carved Tusk
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