- Museum number
- Af2006,20.174-190
- Title
- Object: La Bouche du Roi
- Description
-
Part of an artwork in the form of a ship, based on the print of the Liverpool slave ship 'The Brookes'.
17 anthropomorphic masks made from the upper section of black plastic petrol cans. A mouth is suggested by the circular, open spout; a nose by the handle; forehead and cheeks by the raised area above and below the handle; eyes by the depressed area beneath the handle.
Some of the masks have additional attachments and modifications:
Mask no. 174 has strip of cotton cloth wound round handle.
Mask nos. 175, 183, 188 and 189 have incised inscriptions.
Mask no. 176 has pair of iron crotals attached to handle.
Mask no. 186 has length of iron chain wound around handle.
Mask no. 187 has small wooden figure attached to face.
Mask nos. 188 and 189 have strips of cotton cloth wound round handle.
Mask no. 190 has fibre string wound around handle.
- Production date
- 1997-2000
- Dimensions
-
Height: 34.50 centimetres (Af2006,20.174)
-
Height: 34.20 centimetres (Af2006,20.175)
-
Height: 35.60 centimetres (Af2006,20.176)
-
Height: 33.30 centimetres (Af2006,20.177)
-
Height: 34 centimetres (Af2006,20.178)
-
Height: 32.70 centimetres (Af2006,20.179)
-
Height: 33.70 centimetres (Af2006,20.180)
-
Height: 34.50 centimetres (Af2006,20.181)
-
Height: 33.40 centimetres (Af2006,20.182)
-
Height: 32.40 centimetres (Af2006,20.183)
-
Height: 33.20 centimetres (Af2006,20.184)
-
Height: 33 centimetres (Af2006,20.185)
-
Height: 32.20 centimetres (Af2006,20.186)
-
Height: 33.70 centimetres (Af2006,20.187)
-
Height: 33 centimetres (Af2006,20.188)
-
Height: 31.60 centimetres (Af2006,20.189)
-
Height: 36.30 centimetres (Af2006,20.190)
-
Width: 34 centimetres (Af2006,20.174)
-
Width: 33.40 centimetres (Af2006,20.175)
-
Width: 35.20 centimetres (Af2006,20.176)
-
Width: 34.10 centimetres (Af2006,20.177)
-
Width: 35.40 centimetres (Af2006,20.178)
-
Width: 38 centimetres (Af2006,20.179)
-
Width: 34.20 centimetres (Af2006,20.180)
-
Width: 32.70 centimetres (Af2006,20.181)
-
Width: 35.50 centimetres (Af2006,20.182)
-
Width: 35.80 centimetres (Af2006,20.183)
-
Width: 31.80 centimetres (Af2006,20.184)
-
Width: 33.20 centimetres (Af2006,20.185)
-
Width: 29.10 centimetres (Af2006,20.186)
-
Width: 36.70 centimetres (Af2006,20.187)
-
Width: 33.90 centimetres (Af2006,20.188)
-
Width: 38.70 centimetres (Af2006,20.189)
-
Width: 34.90 centimetres (Af2006,20.190)
-
Depth: 13.60 centimetres (Af2006,20.174)
-
Depth: 14.50 centimetres (Af2006,20.175)
-
Depth: 13.20 centimetres (Af2006,20.176)
-
Depth: 14.50 centimetres (Af2006,20.177)
-
Depth: 13.80 centimetres (Af2006,20.178)
-
Depth: 13.60 centimetres (Af2006,20.179)
-
Depth: 14 centimetres (Af2006,20.180)
-
Depth: 15.20 centimetres (Af2006,20.181)
-
Depth: 12.20 centimetres (Af2006,20.182)
-
Depth: 12 centimetres (Af2006,20.183)
-
Depth: 12.80 centimetres (Af2006,20.184)
-
Depth: 12.10 centimetres (Af2006,20.185)
-
Depth: 22.50 centimetres (Af2006,20.186)
-
Depth: 14.90 centimetres (Af2006,20.187)
-
Depth: 13.80 centimetres (Af2006,20.188)
-
Depth: 13.80 centimetres (Af2006,20.189)
-
Depth: 14.10 centimetres (Af2006,20.190)
- $Inscriptions
-
-
-
-
- Curator's comments
- La Bouche du Roi is a multi-media installation that comprises 304 plastic petrol can 'masks' as well as liquor bottles, mirrors, cotton cloth, glass beads, gourd bowls, cowrie shells, scales and an imitation gun. It also includes film and audio elements. The formal structure of the installation is based on the eighteenth century print of the Liverpool slave ship the 'Brookes'.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2007 22 Mar-13 May, BM
2007 2 Jun-15 Jul, Hull, Ferens Art Gallery
2007 4 Aug-2 Sept, Liverpool, Merseyside Maritime Museum
2007 15 Sept-28 Oct, Bristol's City Museum & Art Gallery
2007-8 10 Nov-3 Feb, Newcastle, Laing Art Gallery
2008-9 5 Dec-1 Mar, London, Horniman Museum
2009 3 Apr-31 May, Coventry, The Herbert
2021 12 Feb-29 Aug, Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, Slavery
- Condition
- Fair.
- Associated titles
Associated Title: "Description of a Slave ship"; print of the Liverpool slave ship the Brookes commissioned by the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade in 1789.
- Acquisition date
- 2006
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- Af2006,20.174-190
- Additional IDs
-
Previous owner/ex-collection number: White 38-54 (Romuald Hazoumè number)