Four different combs wood and iron carved decoration "Geometric motifs", one of the combs with brush. Angolans - Tshokwe (related peoples) 20th C. (2nd half) minor defects, patina wear purchased: one at Sanzala of Soba Jamba (northern concentration of Lumeje), on May 30th, 1970; two in Luau (former Teixeira de Sousa), in 1966 and 1967; and the other in Macano, on March 18th, 1971 Dimensões (altura x comprimento x largura) - (o maior) 17,9 cm Notes: Provenance: Collection of Engineer Elísio Romariz dos Santos Silva, these combs correspond to the pieces with the numbers 18, 103, 112 and 151 mentioned in the notebook of the collector «Angola - Arte Negra, Relação e descrição das peças». Items numbered 18, 103 and 151 are each identified as «Txissaculo», item No. 112 is identified as «Txissaculo with Mutchaia brush». Regarding item possibly number 18, the following is mentioned: "Small handle in the shape of a spike with a crease in the centre. Crosspiece decorated with vertical and horizontal details(?) on one side and vertical, horizontal and inclined ones on the other. [.. .] Purchased [...] on May 30. 70 in the Sanzala of Soba Jamba - concentration north of Lumeje." With regard to nº 103, the following is mentioned: "Crosspiece decorated with incisions in the shape of a lozenge alternating with horizontal incisions in the spaces between them. The lozenges are made up of two triangles joined by their longer sides. The crosspiece is topped by two rods with a rectangular section connected at the top by a cylindrical shape.The crosspiece is separated from the teeth by two incisions.[...] Purchased in Luau [former Teixeira de Sousa], in 1966 [...]. Regarding nº 112, the following information is referred to "Small crosspiece decorated with incisions. Connected to the crosspiece by a strangulation, in trapeze that forms the brush [...]. Back side ornate. [...] Purchased in Luau [former Teixeira de Sousa] in 1967 [...] [...]." Cf. and vd. Bibliography referred to by the collector: REDINHA, José - "Campanha Etnográfica ao Tchiboco (Alto-Tchicapa) - Anotações e Documentação gráfica", volume 2. In "Diamag - Publicações Culturais nº 19". Lisboa: Companhia de Diamantes de Angola - Serviços Culturais Dundo - Lunda - Angola - Museu do Dundo, 1955, p. 19, where it is stated that "PENTES («Isakulo», plural of «Tchisakulo»): It is the Tshokwe term by which those objects are designated (Figs. 163-168). However, the indigenous comb does not correspond to the common idea of the modern comb and it still works as an adornment. It is used, indistinctly, by men and women"; and SANTOS, Eduardo dos - "Sobre a medicina e a Magia dos Quiocos". Lisboa: Junta de Investigações do Ultramar, 1960, s/p, fig. 130. With regard to nº 151, identified as «Txissaculo» in the handwritten notebook, the following information is mentioned: "Crosspiece topped by a small polygonal rod. The decoration of the crosspiece, by incisions, is formed by 4 juxtaposed rectangles with a border of vertical incisions [...] Each of the 4 rectangles is decorated with the "Capuita" motif (see nº5), which together form a beautiful design. Purchased at Macano(?).
Other combs are represented in DIAS, Jorge (direc.) - "Escultura Africana no Museu de Etnologia do Ultramar". Lisboa: Junta de Investigações do Ultramar, 1968, s/p, nº 157; in JORDÁN, Manuel. “Chokwe!- Art and Initiation Among Chokwe and Related Peoples”. Munich/London/New York: Prestel-Verlag, 1998, p. 63, nº 52; in BASTIN, Marie-Louise. "La sculpture Tshokwe”. Arcueil: Alain et Françoise Chaffin, 1982, p. 242, nº 164; and in the auction catalogue held on February 1, 2023 at Lempertz "Art of Arfrica, the Pacific and the Americas". Brussels: Lempertz, 2023, lote 46.