Black Ebony Figurine of Boy Sitting with Grass Skirt

Sculpture

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L.T. Jordan Institute for International Awareness

Ebony figurine of a boy.: Image of the figurine made from dark terracotta and depicts a small boy in a straw skirt with red lips.
Ebony figurine of a boy.

Image of the figurine made from dark terracotta and depicts a small boy in a straw skirt with red lips.

Name/Title

Black Ebony Figurine of Boy Sitting with Grass Skirt

Entry/Object ID

JI2025000361

Description

The Figurine is made from dark terracotta and depicts a small boy in a straw skirt with red lips. The figurine of the small boy was likely made by Leopold Anzengruber in Vienna, Austria, in the 1950s. Anzengruber was educated as a sculptor in Florence, Italy, and founded Anzengruber-Keramic in Vienna, Austria, in 1948. He was inspired by paintings by the North African Muslims Berbers/Moors and based his figurines off them. He started a trend as other European studios began producing similar styled sculptures during the 1950s. Moors is term generally used by Europeans to describe the Muslim population of North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages. It comes from the Latin word “Maurus,” which was used during Ancient Roman times to recognize people from Mauretania, or modern-day North Africa.

Context

The figurines were given to the Jordans by an employee of the Kuwait Oil Company as a gift upon returning home.

Ethnography

Cultural Region

Continent

Africa