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Figure of a Hornblower

Unknownca. 1500-1550

Brooklyn Museum

Brooklyn Museum
Brooklyn, New York City, United States

Blowing a horn or flute with his right hand, his left arm is truncated. He wears a netted cap with chevron design decorated with a feather. Around his neck are two collars: one of coral, the other of cowrie shells and teeth. He wears a kind of vest decorated with an interlocking design and supported by a strap around his neck. This is attached at the waist to a skirt which is drawn up at the side in a point. A belt is tied in a knot around the waist, and a lower belt with tassels connecting the skirt at the back. The over-skirt has a pattern of human faces, leopard faces, arms, half-moons, and other leaf forms. He wears five bracelets on his right hand. There is an undershirt exposed on the left side which has an interlocking design. The lower border of the outfit has a guilloche pattern. Condition: Generally good although the left arm is truncated just below the shoulder and the horn or flute is broken off at both ends. The tip of the feather on the cap is broken off, too. Judging from the surface which is remarkable in that it is free from corrosion products or patination, it has been kept mostly or entirely in protected places.

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Brooklyn Museum

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