Monday 8 April 2019

K.0007: West African side-blown ivory trumpet with leather embellishments


Description
K.0007 is a side-blown trumpet made from two raw materials: ivory and leather (Figure 1). The cream-coloured body is carved from a single piece of elephant ivory. The bell is covered in a piece of reddish-brown leather that extends past where the ivory ends (Figure 2). Three sets of woven and plaited mid-brown matte embellishments are held onto the trumpet by two leather braces.


Figure 1. Side (left) and front (right) bird’s eye view of trumpet K.0007.
Author’s own, 2019.



Figure 2. The red area shows where the ivory is and ends. The blue circle highlights where the dip in the leather can be seen on the leather bell.
Author’s own, 2019.


Decorative elements (Figure 3)
A protruding diamond-shaped embouchure and anthropomorphic design have been carved into its concave side. The leather straps and embellishments consist of multiple parts (Figure 4).


Figure 3. An annotated diagram of the decorative elements.
Author’s own, 2019.


Figure 4. A colour-coded diagram of the different types of leather decoration. 
Photographs and drawings: author’s own, 2019
Plain-weave plait diagram: Norton 1990:96 (figure 3.21)
Three-ply plait diagram: Norton 1990:90 (figure 3.5a).


Manufacture
The tusk has been hollowed out and polished, the markings from which are visible with a DinoLite (Figure 5). The embouchure and anthropomorphic design were carved with a fretsaw, chisel, and gauge, rather than a more clear-cut electric saw (Tikkanen 2019).



Figure 5. DinoLite images at x50 magnification of the ivory body, showing horizontal and vertical tool marks.
Author’s own, 2019.

It is likely that the leather is vegetable tanned, with fats and oils added to increase flexibility (CCI Notes 1992:1). The embellishments were created through weaving and plaiting. The leather on the bell was probably wrapped around the ivory wet, to make it so form-fitting.


Context, Biography, and Values
The Ethnographic Collections’ database states that K.0007 is West African and originally from the Wellcome Collection. It is likely to be from the Democratic Republic of Congo and possibly the Mangbetu people, from the characteristic nature of the anthropomorphic carving (Montagu 2014:14).

K.0007 could have been used for making music, signalling during hunting, and as surrogate speech (Rycroft 2001). Ivory trumpets are seen as prestigious due to ivory’s value and protective powers (Curnow 2018:69), but also their association with tribe leaders and elders (Moore 2015).

Trumpets with anthropomorphic carvings are very rare across Africa. Additionally, from comparative examples, K.0007’s leather embellishments are unique. The trumpet was valued by the Mangbetu people associated with it, significantly for its use, imbedded ancestry, prestige, and craftsmanship. The latter three are still values it holds today. Students, researchers, and the collection should retain these tangible and intangible values which could become even more significant in the future due to its rarity.


Assessment of Condition
Overall, K.0007 is structurally sound and complete but potential concerns have been mapped in Figure 6. The main structural concern is the moderate fracture on the large brace. There is one crack in the ivory, but this is structurally stable. The main surface losses come from potential red rot degradation, evident from its bright red and flaky nature, on the leather bell. Both the cracks and red rot should be consolidated to prevent future deterioration.


Figure 6. Damage report map of potential condition concerns.
Author’s own, 2019.  




Bibliography
CCI Notes. 1992. “Care of Alum, Vegetable, and Mineral Tanned Leather” CCI Notes 8/2. Canadian Conservation Institute.
Cultural Heritage Agency. 2014. Assessing Museum Collections: Collection valuation in six steps. Amersfoort: Cultural Heritage Agency NL.
Curnow. K. 2018.  “Ivory as Cultural Document: The Crushing Burden of Conservation” in The Museum Journal 61:1.
Dirksen, V. 1997. “The Degradation and Conservation of Leather” in Journal of Conservation and Museum Studies 3:6-10.
Mason, R. 2002. “Assessing values in conservation planning: methodological issues and choices” in de la Torre, M. (ed.) Assessing the Values of Cultural Heritage. Los Angeles: The Getty Conservation Institute, pp. 5-30.
Montagu, J. 2014. Horns and Trumpets of the World: An Illustrated Guide. Lanham, MD and Plymouth: Rowman & Littlefield.
Moore, K. 2015. “The Status and Power of Ivory Trumpets” Retrieved on 16 February 2019 from https://metmuseum.org/blogs/of-note/2015/status-and-power-of-ivory-trumpets.
Rycroft, D.K. 2001. “Side-blown trumpet” in Grove Music Online. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Stone, T. 2010. “Care of Ivory, Bone, Horn, and Antler” CCI Notes 6/1. Canadian Conservation Institute.
Tikkanen, A. 2019. “Ivory Carving” in The Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved on 16 February 2019 from https://www.britannica.com/art/ivory-carving#ref3612.
UCL Ethnographic Collections Online Catalogue. 2019. http://ethcat.museums.ucl.ac.uk/.

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