Bissagos Islands, Guinea Bissau, Bidjogo Spoon

Hugo Bernatzik, Vienna, probably collected in the Bissagos Islands between 1930-1931
Hans and Henriette Coray, Zurich
European Private Collection

Museum Rietberg, Zurich, Spoons in African Art: Cooking - Serving - Eating - Emblems of Abundance, 20 September 1990 - 20 January 1991
Musée Dapper, Paris, Cuillers Sculptures, 31 January - 28 April 1991

Lorenz Homberger, Spoons in African Art: Cooking - Serving - Eating - Emblems of Abundance, Zurich, 1991, p. 18
Christiane Falgayrettes (ed.), Cuillers Sculptures, Paris, 1991, p. 58

This highly stylized, abstract spoon represents the female body as signified by the delicately modelled breasts, carved in high relief, that sit atop the slightly flared, elongated handle. A small necklace with pendant hangs from the decorated neck, emphasizing the feminine curves.  According to the classic type of large spoons from the island of Orango, a small island in the Bissagos group off the coast of Guinea Bissau, the spoon is dual functioning: spatula in the lower part and spoon at the upper end.