Kisii stone tortoise sculpture

Description:	The stone from which this sculpture is made, called kisii stone (or Kenyan soapstone), is found only in the Tabaka Hills in Western Kenya. It occurs in a variety of colors, ranging from black to white and even pink. Stones are quarried then hand-carried to workshops as far as six miles away. The stone is very soft and easy to carve. Craftspeople use a panga, a large knife, to break the stone to size and carve the rough shape. Details are done with a kisu, a small knife. Then the works are polished with sandpaper and cleaned with a small brush. Tortoises are often depicted in African folklore as clever and witty. In the African version of the world-famous tortoise versus the hare race, the tortoise outsmarts the hare by placing members of his tortoise family all along the race trail, leading the hare to believe the tortoise is already ahead of him.
Source:	http://www.digitalindy.org/cdm/ref/collection/tcm/id/696
Collection:	The Children's Museum of Indianapolis
Rights:	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/;
Copyright:	Creative Commons (CC By-SA 3.0);
Geography:	Kenya
Subjects:	Tortoises Kenya Kenya--Social life and customs Soapstone Soapstone art objects Sculpture

Further information on this record can be found at its source.