Image and Information taken from Smithsonian Design Museum

Personification of Africa

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Artist: Rosalba Carriera, Italian, 1673–1757

Catalogue Status: Research in Progress

Description: Bust length figure of a black woman, her right breast exposed and holding a scorpion in her right hand. She wears a turban decorated with feathers and jewels, pearl pendant earrings, and a close-fitting pearl necklace. Her body is tilted forward and her gaze is directed to the left.

Credit Line: Gift of the Estate of James Hazen Hyde before 1720

Restrictions & Rights: CC0

Type: portraits

Object Name: Drawing

Type: Drawing

Medium: Pastel on paper mounted on canvas

Dimensions: 43.8 x 34.2 cm (17 1/4 x 13 7/16 in.)Frame H x W x D: 58.4 × 49.5 × 5.1 cm (23 in. × 19 1/2 in. × 2 in.)

Made in Italy

See more items in Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum CollectionDrawings, Prints, and Graphic Design Department

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Usage of Metadata (Object Detail Text): CC0

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Textile fragment: walking ram with a neckband and fluttering ribbons

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Panel from a table carpet showing the Four Continents, the Seasons, and Four Planets between 1662 an