African Boy with Mural Crown 1704

Jan Claudius de Cock made this marble sculpture of an ‘African Boy with Mural Crown’ in the early 18th century. The figure is loaded with visual codes that would have been very familiar in Europe at this time. The mural crown, for example, was a classical symbol of a city or territory. And yet, here it’s placed on the head of an African child, subtly suggesting the extension of European power to other parts of the globe. The boy's exoticized clothing and the turtle at his feet are also symbols designed to signify "Africa" in the European imagination. Made during the height of the transatlantic slave trade, such a figure can tell us a lot about the complex relationship between artistic patronage, colonialism, and the representation of race. To understand this sculpture fully, we need to look into historical documents, colonial archives, and studies of the art market. Art history isn't just about aesthetics; it's about understanding the social and institutional forces that shape what we see.