- Museum number
- Af2006,20.208-215
- 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'.
8 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 nos. 208 and 211 have single cowrie shells applied to front.
Mask no. 210 has strip of cotton cloth wound round handle.
- Production date
- 1997-2000
- Dimensions
-
Height: 34.60 centimetres (Af2006,20.208)
-
Height: 35.20 centimetres (Af2006,20.209)
-
Height: 33.50 centimetres (Af2006,20.210)
-
Height: 33 centimetres (Af2006,20.211)
-
Height: 33.50 centimetres (Af2006,20.212)
-
Height: 33.20 centimetres (Af2006,20.213)
-
Height: 34.50 centimetres (Af2006,20.214)
-
Height: 34.30 centimetres (Af2006,20.215)
-
Width: 31.80 centimetres (Af2006,20.208)
-
Width: 33.40 centimetres (Af2006,20.209)
-
Width: 30.60 centimetres (Af2006,20.210)
-
Width: 31.60 centimetres (Af2006,20.211)
-
Width: 30.10 centimetres (Af2006,20.212)
-
Width: 32.20 centimetres (Af2006,20.213)
-
Width: 34 centimetres (Af2006,20.214)
-
Width: 30.30 centimetres (Af2006,20.215)
-
Depth: 14.40 centimetres (Af2006,20.208)
-
Depth: 13.90 centimetres (Af2006,20.209)
-
Depth: 12.70 centimetres (Af2006,20.210)
-
Depth: 12.50 centimetres (Af2006,20.211)
-
Depth: 11.50 centimetres (Af2006,20.212)
-
Depth: 12.50 centimetres (Af2006,20.213)
-
Depth: 14.50 centimetres (Af2006,20.214)
-
Depth: 12.90 centimetres (Af2006,20.215)
- 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
- Af2006,20.208-215
- Additional IDs
-
Previous owner/ex-collection number: White 72-79 (Romuald Hazoumè number)