19th C Oakwood Counter Top Cigar Store Indian Statue, Netherlands

This elaborate Janus statue is a rare example of an Ibibio free-standing figure to recall a well-defined ancestor in what seems a European outfit .The Ibibios lend supernatural power...

Neapolitan nativity scenes are very different from those seen in churches due to the importance of secular settings. They are not limited to staging the child Jesus surrounded by the holy family. Still, they managed to reproduce the daily life of the Neapolitans of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The elegance of the figuration and the fineness of the execution of these santons also reveals the quality of the know-how of the Neapolitan artisans. The markets, hotels, dances, itinerant vendors, beggars, taverns, various trades, guarding herds, the royal procession and all that was within reach of everyday life or fantasy had their place in the Neapolitan crèches...

An impressive early 20th-century carved and polychrome painted cigar store Indian standing approximately 6 feet tall to the tip of the feathers. The base features replacement boards—...

A 20th Century wood carved male figure, a 'Cigar Store Indian' with original polychrome decoration. A now controversial subject, but none the less charming rendition, of a native North American man originally probably used as an advertising figure. Wonderful quality of carving capturing the stance of the man looking out to the distance, hair flowing to his back and plait to the side, all the details of his costume, his native dress and hairpipe breastplate (suggesting he is possibly a Comanche) and chest ornament, apron, trousers, mocassins, shield and arrows. The original Polychrome decoration has weathered beautifully as has the wood itself to present a sculpture that would adorn any collection or interior. Because of the general illiteracy of the populace, early store owners used descriptive emblems or figures to advertise their shops' wares. American Indians and tobacco had always been associated because American Indians introduced tobacco to Europeans. As early as the 17th century, European tobacconists used figures of American Indians to advertise their shops. Because European carvers had never seen a Native American, these early cigar-store "Indians" looked more like Africans with feathered headdresses and other fanciful, exotic features. These carvings were called "Black Boys" or "Virginians" in the trade. Eventually, the European cigar-store figure...