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Comb with Anthropomorphic Decoration

This wooden comb has thick teeth on the bottom and thinner teeth on the top. A central half-moon panel is situated in the middle, dividing the two sets of teeth, with the curve of the circle towards the top. An organic, curvilinear pattern is carved into this panel and it appears to be the eyes and nose of a face.

This wooden comb has thick teeth on the bottom and thinner teeth on the top. A central half-moon panel is situated in the middle, dividing the two sets of teeth, with the curve of the circle towards the top. An organic, curvilinear pattern is carved into this panel and it appears to be the eyes and nose of a face.

Culture Islamic
Title Comb with Anthropomorphic Decoration
Date 800–900 CE
Medium Wood
Dimensions Overall: 4 7/8 × 3 3/16 × 5/16 in. (12.4 × 8.1 × 0.8 cm)
Object: 4 7/8 × 3 3/16 × 5/16 in. (12.4 × 8.1 × 0.8 cm)
Credit Line Museum purchase with funds from the Elisabeth P. Myers Art Acquisition Endowment, Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University
Accession Number 2017.64

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2017, Eskenazi Museum of Art purchase from the Toledo Museum of Art Sale (Toledo, OH), facilitated by Harlan J. Berk, Ltd. (Chicago IL)

1906–2017, Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH

1906, Gift to the Toledo Museum of Art from Edward Drummond Libbey, Toledo, OH [1]

before 1906, Edward Libbey purchase in Egypt [2]

Notes:

[1] Edward Drummond Libbey (1854-1925) was a glass manufacturer in Toledo, Ohio. Interested in the arts, he was founding president of the Toledo Art Museum (1901-1925). He donated large parts of his private collection to the museum.

[2] Ahmed Bey Kamil, Assistant Curator at the Cairo Museum, acknowledged Libbey's acquisition of this piece and other works of Egyptian art in a preface to a 1906 Toledo Museum of Art catalogue.

Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.

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"Comb with Anthropomorphic Decoration | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2025. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=2017.64