The Portuguese and Dutch began to land their ships in Africa in the late15th century, just as the Kongo kingdom took hold in west central Africa. During this period, the Kongo people began to establish commercial relationships with the Europeans. In the 17th century, Europeans became more interested in slave trade and turned their attention to the Loango people who were more apt to aid European endeavors. These new ties put an end to the Kongo reign and brought a major expansion of Loango culture and peoples to the area.
The Loango coast was full of trade and commerce. Through this atmosphere, Vili rose to wealth. The Vilis were Loango traders and artisans who also served as middlemen to the European and American peoples who came through the area. Although they aided the Europeans, the Vilis benefited from them by selling ‘artifacts’ of Africa for collections and souvenirs in this way they made a good amount of money. The Vilis’ interactions with foreigners enabled them to become familiar with what these foreigners liked, and aided in their creation of products that Europeans would most favor.
To the benefit of the Vilis’, there was a fascination with the “oriental” and “foreign” object back in Europe. This fascination spanned everything from painting, to textile such as silk, to spices, to foreign power items and other African objects. Vilis’ workshops produced many different types of souvenirs for export to the Europeans. They created these items from wood, soapstone, and Ivory. Vilis used iron tools in their carving for the most part.
Elephant poaching was common and began in the 15th century. A majority of the ivory gathered from poaching was used for European export. By the 19th and 20th century ivory was scarce in Africa. A single tusk could be valued at the price of two to three slaves before it was carved. This made ivory items of exceptional value.
Ivory items produced in the Vilis’ workshops included cane handles, stamps to seal wax on envelopes, and the most popular, the carved ivory tusks. The carved tusks were an ideal fit into this area of fascination and collection the Europeans had, both for the carved tusks’ exoticism and rarity.
Themes of these tusks were selected by the African artists to appeal to the European traders who came through the area and bought them. Many of the tusks would include scenes such as rows of African slaves being led to a European, overly savage depictions of Africans and Africa (for example an African being gored by an elephant), and converted Africans, wearing European religious garb.
While these tusks were decidedly marketed toward Europeans, they did have a solid backing in African roots. The tusks were very African in source, and even their format (spiraling upwards to the left) is a traditional Kongo way to decorate ceremonial horns and textile patterns.
Loango Tusk at the Spencer Museum of Art
This particular tusk was donated by Susan and Wolfgang Humburger to the Spencer Museum of Art. The tusk was crafted sometime between the mid 19th to early 20th century.
Links to information on this Loango Tusk and others like it:
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=00027294(199312)2%3A95%3A4%3C1080%3AETAAII%3E2.0.CO%3B2-2
(full) http://www.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/conMediaFile.3344
(detail) http://www.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/conMediaFile.3345