Blackamoor (jewelry)
Encyclopedia
Blackamoor figures are stylised depictions of black Africans used in sculpture, jewelry, armorial designs and decorative art.

Jewelry and decorative arts

As jewelry, such figures usually appear in antique Venetian
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

 (though nowadays they can be made anywhere) earrings, bracelets, cuff links, and brooch
Brooch
A brooch ; also known in ancient times as a fibula; is a decorative jewelry item designed to be attached to garments. It is usually made of metal, often silver or gold but sometimes bronze or some other material...

es. Some contemporary craftsmen continue to make individual pieces, but it is rare because of modern issues with the depiction of Black people as "exotic" and decorative.

The blackamoor is typically depicted with a head covering, usually a turban
Turban
In English, Turban refers to several types of headwear popularly worn in the Middle East, North Africa, Punjab, Jamaica and Southwest Asia. A commonly used synonym is Pagri, the Indian word for turban.-Styles:...

, and covered in rich jewels and gold leaf
Gold leaf
right|thumb|250px|[[Burnishing]] gold leaf with an [[agate]] stone tool, during the water gilding processGold leaf is gold that has been hammered into extremely thin sheets and is often used for gilding. Gold leaf is available in a wide variety of karats and shades...

. It is usually male. The early examples often have European racial features, apart from the color. They are typically enamelled
Vitreous enamel
Vitreous enamel, also porcelain enamel in U.S. English, is a material made by fusing powdered glass to a substrate by firing, usually between 750 and 850 °C...

, carved from ebony
Ebony
Ebony is a dense black wood, most commonly yielded by several species in the genus Diospyros, but ebony may also refer to other heavy, black woods from unrelated species. Ebony is dense enough to sink in water. Its fine texture, and very smooth finish when polished, make it valuable as an...

 or painted black to contrast with the bright colors of the embellishments. Depictions may only represent the head, or head and shoulders, facing the viewer in a symmetrical pose.

In decorative sculpture the full body is depicted, either to hold trays as virtual servants or bronze sconces to hold candles or light fixtures. They may be incorporated into small stands, tables, or andiron
Andiron
An andiron is a horizontal iron bar upon which logs are laid for burning in an open fireplace. They are usually used in pairs to build up a firedog, sometimes called a dog or dog-iron. In older eras An andiron (older form anderne; med. Lat. andena, anderia) is a horizontal iron bar upon which logs...

s. They are often portrayed in pairs. Andrea Brustolon
Andrea Brustolon
Andrea Brustolon was an Italian sculptor in wood. He is known for his furnishings in the Baroque style and devotional sculptures.-Biography:...

 (1662–1732) was the most important sculptor of blackamoors. Often these blackamoors are in acrobatic positions that would be impossible to hold for any extended length of time for a real person.

Collections

One of the finest examples of a blackamoor in the arts is the Mohr mit Smaragdstufe ("Moor with Emerald
Emerald
Emerald is a variety of the mineral beryl colored green by trace amounts of chromium and sometimes vanadium. Beryl has a hardness of 7.5–8 on the 10 point Mohs scale of mineral hardness...

 Cluster"), in the collection of the Grünes Gewölbe
Grünes Gewölbe
The Grünes Gewölbe in Dresden is a unique historic museum that contains the largest collection of treasures in Europe. Founded by Augustus the Strong in 1723, it features a rich variety of exhibits from the Baroque to Classicism...

 in Dresden, Germany. It was created by Balthasar Permoser
Balthasar Permoser
Balthasar Permoser was among the leading sculptors of his generation, whose evolving working styles spanned the late Baroque and early Rococo....

 in 1724. The statue is richly decorated with jewels and is 63.8 cm (2.1 ft) high.

Aleksandr Pushkin
Aleksandr Pushkin
Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin was a Russian author of the Romantic era who is considered by many to be the greatest Russian poet and the founder of modern Russian literature....

 had a blackamoor figurine on his desk to remind him of Abram Petrovich Gannibal
Abram Petrovich Gannibal
Major-General Abram Petrovich Gannibal, also Hannibal or Ganibal or Ibrahim Hannibal or Abram Petrov , was brought to Russia as a gift for Peter the Great and became major-general, military engineer, governor of Reval and nobleman of the Russian Empire...

, his great-grandfather. This figure can be seen in his former St. Petersburg apartment, now turned into a museum.

Diana Vreeland
Diana Vreeland
Diana Vreeland was a noted columnist and editor in the field of fashion. She worked for the fashion magazines Harper's Bazaar and Vogue and the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.Born as Diana Dalziel, Vreeland was the eldest daughter of American socialite mother Emily Key Hoffman...

 had a famous collection of blackamoor jewelry, and Anita Pointer
Anita Pointer
Anita Pointer is an American R&B/soul singer-songwriter and a member of The Pointer Sisters.-Biography:...

 of the Pointer Sisters
Pointer Sisters
The Pointer Sisters are an American pop/R&B recording act from Oakland, California that achieved mainstream success during the 1970s and 1980s. Spanning over three decades, their repertoire has included such diverse genres as pop, disco, jazz, bebop, blues, soul, funk, dance, country and rock.The...

 has some blackamoor pieces in her extensive collection of black memorabilia.

Heraldry

In heraldry, a blackamoor may be a charge
Charge (heraldry)
In heraldry, a charge is any emblem or device occupying the field of an escutcheon . This may be a geometric design or a symbolic representation of a person, animal, plant, object or other device...

 in the blazon
Blazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image...

, or description of a coat of arms. The isolated head of a moor is blazoned "a Maure
Maure
A Maure, since the 11th century, is the symbol of an African head. The term has Phoenician and Greek origins; see Moors.- U Moru :The main symbol in the coat of arms in Corsica is U Moru, Corsican for "The Moor", originally a female Moor blindfolded and wearing a necklace made of beads...

" or a "moor's head".

The reasons for the inclusion of a blackamoor head vary. The Moor's head on the crest that appears on the arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...

 of Lord Kirkcudbright
Lord Kirkcudbright
The title Lord Kirkcudbright was bestowed on Sir Robert Maclellan of Bombie in 1633 by King Charles I of England on a visit to Scotland. Maclellan had already been created a baronet in the Nova Scotia in 1631....

, and in consequence the modern crest badge
Scottish crest badge
A Scottish crest badge is a heraldic badge worn to show allegiance to an individual or membership in a specific Scottish clan. Crest badges are commonly called clan crests, but this is a misnomer; there is no such thing as a collective clan crest, just as there is no such thing as a clan coat of...

 used by Clan MacLellan is supposed to derive from the killing of a moorish bandit known as Black Morrow
Black Morrow
Black Morrow, also known as Black Murray, is the name given to a bandit whom according to tradition was killed by a MacLellan near Kirkcudbright in Galloway, Scotland. There are several different versions of the story, in which the slain bandit is variously described as a Gypsy, a Moor, or even Irish...

. The blazon is a naked arm supporting on the point of a sword, a moor's head. Other examples appear to depict captives; the flag of Sardinia once depicted four Maure
Maure
A Maure, since the 11th century, is the symbol of an African head. The term has Phoenician and Greek origins; see Moors.- U Moru :The main symbol in the coat of arms in Corsica is U Moru, Corsican for "The Moor", originally a female Moor blindfolded and wearing a necklace made of beads...

s
blindfolded, but in recent versions the blindfolds have been raised to become headbands.

Sculpture

Blackamoor figures were also used in larger sculptures, as for example on Blackamoor Bridge in Ulriksdal Palace
Ulriksdal Palace
Ulriksdal Palace is a royal palace situated on the banks of the Edsviken in the National City Park in Solna, 6 km north of Stockholm. It was originally called Jakobsdal after its owner Jacob De la Gardie, who had it built by architect Hans Jacob Kristler in 1643-1645 as a country retreat...

, Sweden.

Fred Wilson
Fred Wilson (artist)
Conceptual artist Fred Wilson describes himself as of "African, Native American, European and Amerindian" descent. Wilson received a MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant in 1999 and the Larry Aldrich Foundation Award in 2003. Wilson represented the United States at the Biennial Cairo in 1992 and the...

, an African-American sculptor, displayed an installation at the 2003 Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...

that incorporated blackamoors. Wilson placed wooden blackamoors carrying acetylene torches and fire extinguishers. Wilson noted that such figures are so common in Venice that few people notice them. He said,"They are in hotels everywhere in Venice...which is great, because all of a sudden you see them everywhere. I wanted it to be visible, this whole world which sort of just blew up for me."

External links

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