This pair of seated male figures, carved of light-hued wood and treated with pokerwork details, depicts two colonial administrators. With the advent of colonization, African carvers began to work European subjects into their repertoires, and in time a tradition of depictions of Western officers such as these took shape. Carved in a certain spirit of candor, these two figures display the contemporary fashions of European officials and, with their attributes of conspicuous self-indulgence, provide some insight into how they were perceived through indigenous eyes.
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Attributed to the carver who worked in Senor Joao Bello's garden in Lourenco Marques, Mozambique.