Beaded Elephants, Mother and Child Set, Ghana Wood

A pair of hand carved wooden elephants, mother and child, each with a beaded blanket of tiny glass seed beads worked over the head and back. The mother stands about 10cm, the child about 7cm. They are sold as a set and they are meant to be kept as one. The small one stands a little ahead of the mother in the photograph, the way a calf walks, and that is how they look on a shelf: two objects that read as one thing. It makes them an easier gift than a single ornament, for a new baby, a nursery, or anyone who has been given an elephant before and has nowhere to put a second identical one. The beadwork is laid in bands of turquoise, red, yellow, royal blue, green and white, with a rosette worked over each ear. The legs, trunk and face are left as bare dark wood, so the colour sits on top of the carving rather than hiding it. Carved from sese wood in Accra and beaded by hand, one bead at a time. Dust with a dry soft brush, keep them out of direct sunlight, and do not use cleaning fluid on the beadwork.