Lomba Tooth

Date1906

MediumSea elephant ivory

Dimensions3 5/8 in. (9.2 cm)

Donor credit lineKendall Whaling Museum Collection Transfer

Object number2001.100.199

Institutional Credit LineCourtesy of the New Bedford Whaling Museum

DescriptionMonochrome engraved both sides. Recto: Stipple-engraved bust portrait of a man in a military uniform, evidently a man of African ancestry in what appears to be a French dress uniform of the early 19th Century, probably Haitian. Verso: signed "Lomba / C. F. L.," and dated "Maio di 1906".

John Lomba [Joao da Lomba] was of Cape Verdean origin and served for several voyages as first mate of the brig Daisy of New Bedford, under Captain Benjamin D. Cleveland; his career and charismatic leadership qualities are characterized in Robert Cushman Murphy's chronicle of the Daisy [c1913-14] in Logbook for Grace (1947); photos in the NBWM, Whaling Museum at Cold Spring Harbor, and in R.C. Murphy, Dead Whale or a Stove Boat (1967).

Ref: S.M. Frank, Dict. Scrim. Artists, 1991, pp 82f.Exhibition History"Cape Verdean Maritime Exhibition" (NBWM, July 5, 2011)ProvenanceKendall Whaling Museum; NBWM

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