Visor

Provenance

This early visor is documented in the Bassani/McLeod catalogue raisonne of the Jacob Epstein Collection.
Sir Jacob Epstein, London, United KingdomCarlo Monzino, Milan, Italy and Lugano, Switzerland (from the above, with the assistance of Charles Ratton, Paris, France)
Marina Clerici Rasini, Castel Campo, Fiave, Italy (by inheritance from the above)
Entwistle, London, United Kingdom and Paris, France (Inv. No. ZC0075, acquired from the above)
Donald Ellis Gallery, New York, NY and Dundas, ON
Sir Kenneth Thomson, Toronto, ON

exhibited

Art Gallery of Ontario, November 2008–2024

PUBLISHED

Donald Ellis Gallery catalogue, 2010, pgs. 18-19

RELATED EXAMPLES

The literature does not appear to contain a single specimen dating as early as this extraordinary visor. Hollowed-out visors are rare. This example has an ancient “archaic” quality, a massive feel yet a simplicity of presentation that suggests links to much earlier pre-historic traditions – For an Okvik ivory figure collected on the Punuk Islands see:
Lydia Black, Glory Remembered: Wooden Headgear of Alaska, Juneau: Alaska State Museums, 1991, fig. 44

For an early bentwood visor collected by James Cook in 1778 see: The British Museum, London, UK, Inv. No. 1949 AM 22.2 – See: Ibid., fig. 22

For two examples of early wooden hollowed-out hunting headgear collected by Captain James Cook and now in the collection of the British Museum, London, UK, see:
J.C.H. King, Artificial Curiosities From The Northwest Coast of North America, London: British Museum Publications Ltd., 1981, pls. 9 and 10