Figure of a Black Servant in Livery
Entry ID
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19 (06/01/2022)
Formal title of the work
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Figure of a Black Servant in Livery
Description of the sculpture
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Carved and painted wooden figure of a young man dressed in eighteenth-century servant’s livery. He is shown turning to his left and engaging with an unseen companion, with his left hand on his hip, and his right hand extended to the side, holding an unidentified object. The sculpture is elevated on a small square black wooden base.
URLs where this is recorded/available
Type of object
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Statue: Full-length figure (single)
Base
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Base present - appears to be the original base
Dimensions
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Height: 155 cm
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Width: 93 cm
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Depth: 75 cm
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Height (base): 9 cm
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Height (base): 50 cm
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Depth (base): 40 cm
Materials
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Wood (unidentified)
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Paint / pigment
Specific techniques used
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Carving
Overall colour
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Polychrome
Does the Black person have a specific identity?
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Anonymous: generic/idealised type
Attributes
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Unidentified object held in extended right hand
Role within sculpture
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Main protagonist
Gender
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Male
Age
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Adolescent
Status
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Servant
Clothing
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Wearing clothes – European/Western clothing
Evidence of enslavement
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None
Evidence of 'exotic' status
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None
Action or activity
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Standing
Emotional state
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Happy
Focus of gaze of Black person
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Looking upwards
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Looking sideways
Sculptural context
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No location included/implied
Period of production
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Eighteenth century (1700-1799)
Date inferred from
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Inferred from stylistic features
Original purpose
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Decorative
Original display setting
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Unknown
Current owner
Current / most recently known location
Accession number
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KINCM:2006.9242
Notes
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The Wilberforce House Museum currently (22.2.22) date this sculpture as eighteenth century, but it may have been made in the nineteenth century.
Current rights holder
License terms for reuse
‘Figure of a Black Servant in Livery’ (no date), Black People in European Sculpture, accessed May 5, 2025, http://13.41.147.145/s/database/item/245
