Fire-blower
Entry ID
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118 (09/02/2022)
Formal title of the work
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Fire-blower
Description of the sculpture
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Hollow fire-blower aeolipile created to depict an African male youth with puffed out cheeks in the act of blowing. The sculpture has a hole in the base, hole between the pursed lips and holes in the ear lobes. The head originally had an earring in each ear but only one remains. It is made from embossed Copper with traces of patination and gilding.
URLs where this is recorded/available
Type of object
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Head
Base
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No base
Dimensions
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Height (incl hinge on top of head): 27.5 cm
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Height: 27.4 cm
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Width: 18.4 cm
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Depth: 18 cm
Materials
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Other
Specific techniques used
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Other
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Patination
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Gilding
Overall colour
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Monochrome – black
Does the Black person have a specific identity?
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Anonymous: generic/idealised type
Role within sculpture
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Main protagonist
Gender
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Female
Age
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Child
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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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Earrings (often a single pearl)
Action or activity
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Other
Emotional state
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Indeterminate
Focus of gaze of Black person
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Looking outwards (engaging viewer)
Sculptural context
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No location included/implied
Place of production
Period of production
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Sixteenth century (1500-1599)
Date of Production
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c. 1500
Date inferred from
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Inferred from stylistic features
Original purpose
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Other
Original display setting
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Secular Domestic: hall/reception room
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Secular Domestic: bedchamber
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Secular Domestic: other
Current owner
Current / most recently known location
Accession number
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SLMisc.1112
Provenance history
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1753: bequeathed by Sir Hans Sloane. Part of the founding collection of the British Museum
Notes
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This rare fire-blower would have been filled the water and then placed in front of the fire to heat up. The steam created within the sculpture would then be forced through the head’s pursed lips towards the fire to help it burn more brightly.
Current rights holder
License terms for reuse
‘Fire-blower’ (no date), Black People in European Sculpture, accessed May 5, 2025, http://13.41.147.145/s/database/item/974
