Thorn Carving

Thorn carvings are miniatures depicting a variety of scenes from Nigerian life. The carvings first began to be made circa 1930. The thorns vary in size; they can be as large as 12.7 cm long and 9.6 cm wide. The thorn wood is comparatively soft and easy to carve; they are traditionally carved by men.

Most of the Nigerian objects in the Lieber collection were assumed to have been collected while Jack Lieber was living in Nigeria, 1965-1970. However one of the thorn carvings was made after 1971, so the dates are uncertain.

craft; tourist art

The light yellow-brown thorn and the dark brown thorn come from the ata tree; the light red-brown thorn comes from egun trees. The parts are glued together with viscous paste made that was made from rice cooked with water.

Thorn carving depicting two figures, one a dentist, the other a patient. Figures adhered to a rectangular pressed board base. One person is seated, while the other stands, bent forward slightly, a holding a stick to the other person's mouth with their right hand. In their left hand they hold a jug, similar to five other containers sitting on a table top next to the two figures.