#87 • Enemy Alien Prison Camp Carved Bone Art: From Across The Sea

Part of TRENCH ART & WWI Memorabilia (live auction by Bannerman Auctions)

High bid $125.00

Status: Sold

Category: Trench Art

Enemy Alien Prison Camp Carved Bone Art: From Across The Sea 8cm segment of (bovine) bone is carved with a well executed rose on one side and framed text "FROM ACROSS THE SEA" on the other.  There is a nicely polished but loose wood rim fitted to the top opening.  The carving sits on a pedestal of stacked wood platforms supported by intricately carved bone fretwork feet.  Though unmarked, the majority of attributed pieces in this style were made by detained enemy aliens, interned at camps like Knockaloe on the Isle of Man, or Stobs, south of Edinburgh, where the guests of his Majesty produced artworks from materials available in camp, to be sold with the funds benefiting the internees.  These elaborate multipiece works are fragile and consequently have not survived the past century as well as other types of prison camp art.  There were some examples in Jane Kimball's giant collection, but most of them were damaged, with many missing some or most of their small 'fiddly bits.'  This one is a nice exception to the norm, and displays quite well. Nearly 25,000 civilians of Central Powers nations, primarily Germany, were detained in a system of camps in Britain throughout the course of the war.  The military barracks style arrangement was sanitary and (per a US Embassy report) "comfortably furnished but without luxury."  They could purchase tobacco, small luxuries, and other articles from the camp canteens.  Besides the anxiety associated with being detained against their will for a undetermined duration, the primary adversary was simple boredom.  Education was one remedy for this: many camps established libraries and organized courses of study.  Some camps had orchestras, organized sport was common, as were arts and crafts.  The creation of artwork yielded opportunities to sell their artwork to the local population, camp visitors, and guards, generating a bit of coin to spend at the canteen. Stobs Prisoner of War Camp, for example, organized a special Christmas craft exhibition in 1915. Estimate: $100 - $200