Blackamoor (decorative arts)

Pair of Italian figures in painted wood, 18th century
"Moor with Emerald Cluster" by Balthasar Permoser in the collection of the Grünes Gewölbe

Blackamoor is a type of figure and visual trope in European decorative art, typically found in works from the Early Modern period, depicting a man of sub-Saharan African descent, usually in clothing that suggests high status. Common examples of items and objects decorated in the blackamoor style include sculpture, jewellery, and furniture. Typically the sculpted figures carried something, such as candles or a tray. They were thus an exotic and lightweight variant for the "atlas" in architecture and decorative arts, especially popular in the Rococo period.

The term "blackamoor" or "black moor" was once a general term for black people in English,[1] "formerly without depreciatory force" as the Oxford English Dictionary puts it.[2] The style is now viewed by some as racist and culturally insensitive.[3] However, blackamoor pieces are still produced, mainly in Venice, Italy.

  1. ^ Das, Nandini; Melo, João Vicente; Smith, Haig Z.; Working, Lauren (2021). "Blackamoor/Moor". Keywords of Identity, Race, and Human Mobility in Early Modern England. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. pp. 40–50. doi:10.2307/j.ctv1t8q92s.7. ISBN 9789463720748. JSTOR j.ctv1t8q92s.7. S2CID 242157432.
  2. ^ "blackamoor", OED. The form with the connecting "a", whose origin is unclear, was first recorded in 1581, as "black a Moore".
  3. ^ Holt, Bethan (22 December 2017). "Princess Michael of Kent prompts controversy after wearing 'racist' 'blackamoor' brooch to lunch with Meghan Markle". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 23 December 2017.