Name/Title
Pendant, carved dark wood, stylized face in a rectangular blockEntry/Object ID
2025.20.36Description
Rectangular block pendant, taller than wide, carved on one face with a highly stylized frontal face in sharply faceted planes. Reading downward: a narrow brow band at the top rising to two shallow peaks; a wide chevron forming the browline; below it a broad triangular forehead plane descending to a second chevron. The lower two thirds carry the face proper — a long narrow ridged nose running the full height as a raised triangular spine, flanked by two deep V-shaped incisions forming the eye sockets and cheek hollows, with a narrow rectangular mouth of horizontal bars set low, and a pointed chin below. Modeling is entirely in flat intersecting planes with crisp arrises; no rounded or naturalistic surfaces.
A brass or brass-plated screw eye is set into the top edge, slightly off-center, its loop open rather than closed.Item Type
PendantContext
Cuban production on an Afro-Cuban theme. Cuban craft works in tropical hardwoods, and the Africanist face is a standard motif in Cuban decorative art, tied to the same official framing of Africa as "inseparable part of Cuba."Acquisition
Accession
2025.20Acquisition Method
GiftRelationships
Related Places
Place
City
HavanaCountry
CubaRegion
Caribbean, Central AmericaCreated By
María A. Cabrera ArúsCreate Date
September 12, 2026Updated By
María A. Cabrera ArúsUpdate Date
September 15, 2026