Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Oliphant
Not on view
The primary visual conceit that Kongo artists endlessly transformed and deconstructed is that of a knot in which the ends of interlaced strands encircle and enjoin to create a contained form. The “endless knot” motif was articulated through processes that layered negative and positive passages of design. Using the adze and fine knives, carvers inscribed geometric patterns that unfold in horizontal and spiraling bands on ivory elephant tusks.
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