Block, Wood

Artifact

Accession Number:
2015.1.36a
Description
Pictorial wood printing block. Front: The block is painted black (dark blue), and is an irregular shape with 9 sides. The carved design on the wood base is an intricate outline of a clown's face and his right hand with his index finger pointing down. There are two sections to this wood block. The larger has the clown's face which is 16.6cm long (it is angled to the right) and is 13.5cm wide. The clown has a triangle hat with a pompom on top. His eyebrows are in the shape of arrowheads or upsidedown Vs. His eyes are closed, and his nose is made by a strip of wood with two curves. His mouth is open into a small smile showing 5 teeth. His lower lip is 1.2cm wider than his upper lip which is 0.3cm wide. Two wavy parallel lines seem to come from his ear (collar of costume?) and continue on into the second section where the outline of his hand is. These two lines represent his arm. His hand is in a fist with the thumb pointing out and the index finger pointing down. From thumb to the opposite end of the hand it measures 9.3cm long. From knuckle to the bottom of the index finger it measures 8.2cm. The second section is 3.4cm than the first section. The first section is 20.1cm long and the second is 11.5cm. The bottom sides almost slanted upwards, with one that connects the two sections slanting downwards. On the bottom sides there are also multiple line indentations both horizontal and vertical. On the right side there is a label with the previous temporary number on it. Back: The majority of the back is covered with strips of paper. There is some handwriting visible in the middle section written with pencil. The previous temporary number is written in pencil in the bottom left area. Right above this is a piece of tape with "DAG 305" written on it. In both corners where the first and second sections meet there are two incisions that cut almost the entire depth of the block.
Materials
Wood (basswood or pine)
Measurements
32 cm L x 14 cm W x 2 cm H
Marks/Labels
Category
Printing T&E