Antique Folk Art Carving

An intricately carved coconut with a face on one side which makes use the naturally occurring holes and pits of the coconut to form a man’s eyes and mouth with other features carved into the surface depicting his nose, moustache, eyebrows with great attention paid to the individual hairs. He is wearing what appears to be some form of a headdress.

Surrounding the face there are further carvings depicting stylised palm trees, flowers and panels which depict two portraits, one of a man in profile with long hair who appears to be of Native American or possibly of indigenous Caribbean origin as well as another profile in portrait of a western man with a beard and cap, this latter example could quite easily be a self portrait of the carver. There are also two further finely carved panels which depict baskets stuffed with a wealth of flowers and fruits.

There is a really lovely folky naive quality to the carving which is utterly charming but also well executed.

Known as ‘Bugbears’ carved coconuts like this one were hand carved by sailors in the 18th and 19th centuries who were travelling from tropical locations, mainly from the East or West Indies to pass the time aboard and can feature different themes usually depicted in a naive or folky manner.

This example probably dates from somewhere in the late 18th or early 19th century during the reign of George III.

At first I wondered if at some point this example was missing a section on the back but on closer inspection I do wonder if it was always like this. A lot of these bugbears were carved from whole coconuts and were made into powder flasks but they were also carved for other purposes and some were purely decorative. This example sits very well displayed hanging on the wall so it could possibly have been the intent from the start.

It is in very good vintage condition with only minor wear commensurate with age . It has a lovely colour and patina to it. We have left it in completely original condition but they can be cleaned and polished if desired.

Approximate measurements: 11cm wide x 12cm high x 9cm deep.

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