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work of the month

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Carved Elephant Tusk, Unknown Congo artisan, late 19th century
Africa, Lower Zaire
Tusk/Ivory
Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

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WHAT DO YOU SEE?

Below is a list of questions the Museum posed to our visitors, both in the Gallery and on-line. Highlights from the collected responses are posted here. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and ideas with us.

What questions arise for you as you view this work?
‡ What type if carving tools was used? Did more than 1 person create this? How long it take?
‡ How did you carve manage to create such detail on such a hard material like ivory?
‡ How is the tooth so big?
‡ Who made the piece? How was it made and the length of time it took to create/ What was done with it upon completion?

What do you enjoy most about the work?
‡ The beauty of the Chiva-colors
‡ The craftsmanship & the creativity
‡ How elaborate it is.
‡ The detail

What do you dislike about this work?
‡ Poor elephant
‡ What it is made of
‡ It has figures of poor people

Is there a story in this work for you? If so, what is the story you see in the work?
‡ A line of Africans Americans going up to heaven
‡ The problems of life's experiences
‡ It represents life different events
‡ Yes I see the story of mankind: compassion, Leadership, Enslavement, tools being used, inventions, life & death
‡ Looks like the people are going up to heaven
‡ I see that people are about to go to their majesty

What do you think this work means or says?
‡ Spring
‡ It takes a struggle and hard work to get there
‡ It says " Here we are day to day living life in these events."
‡ Nothing changes under the sun
‡ I think it shows the way of life of African Americans
‡ Says differences
‡ A poor person works when work is for poor people

What aspects of the work are you most curious about, and what answers would you like to have about those aspects of the work?
‡ The time it would take to do something like that! How has it been kept in so good of shape!
‡ Do they use only dead animals or do they kill the animals to get the ivory?
‡ How long did it take to carve it? What tools carved it?
‡ How many of these were made
‡ Are some of those people women?