Lot 166 D‡α

Julian Volper (in ‘The Concave and the Convex Ivory Spoons of the Northeastern Congo’, Tribal Arts Magazine, 2013, no.70, pp.102-109) discusses the attribution of these ivory spoons. He found little evidence for their attribution to the Boa, although they certainly come from that broad geographical area. Five ivory spoons of this type in the British Museum were collected by and English officer, G. Burrows in the 1890s. Burrows wrote that the Mabongo [Bango] differed from other tribes around them in that they used “little ivory spoons, very delicately carved and often gracefully designed, which they use for eating their meal.” (Burrows, G., "The Curse of Central Africa", London, 1903, p.236).