Object Details
- Mangbetu artist
- Label Text
- African potters--primarily women--handbuild a variety of vessels that they embellish with beautiful colors, designs and motifs before firing them at low temperatures. Containers made for daily use hold water or serve as cooking utensils. They also make vessels to be used in special ceremonies or that become part of an assemblage of objects placed in a shrine.
- The tall, wide neck and spherical body of this vessel are decorated with deeply grooved curvilinear and impressed patterns that were probably made with fingers and a roulette. The gouged patterns are similar to those made by wood carvers. The worn bottom indicates the jug was much used.
- Description
- Dark colored globular shaped vessel with a long neck and handle. Deeply grooved "S" shaped patterns, reminiscent of wood carving, on the body of the vessel are interspersed with impressed markings. Two circular depressions are at the front. The neck has deeply grooved parallel incisions marked with a series of small circular depressions. The handle is also marked with impressed patterns.
- Provenance
- Count Lippens collection, Belgium, before 1930
- Exhibition History
- Purpose and Perfection: Pottery as a Woman's Art in Central Africa, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., November 15, 1992-June 15, 1997
- Published References
- Polfliet, Leo. 1987. Traditional Zaiirian Pottery. Munich: Fred Jahn Gallery, p. 32, no. 16.
- Content Statement
- As part of our commitment to accessibility and transparency, the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art is placing its collection records online. Please note that some records are incomplete (missing image or content descriptions) and others reflect out-of-date language or systems of thought regarding how to engage with and discuss cultural heritage and the specifics of individual artworks. If you see content requiring immediate action, we will do our best to address it in a timely manner. Please email nmafacuratorial@si.edu if you have any questions.
- Image Requests
- High resolution digital images are not available for some objects. For publication quality photography and permissions, please contact the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives at https://africa.si.edu/research/eliot-elisofon-photographic-archives/
- Credit Line
- Purchased with funds provided by the Smithsonian Collections Acquisition Program
- ca. 1890
- Object number
- 89-13-75
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Type
- Ceramics
- Medium
- Ceramic, encrustation
- Dimensions
- H x W x D: 26 x 17.1 x 14.7 cm (10 1/4 x 6 3/4 x 5 13/16 in.)
- Geography
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- See more items in
- National Museum of African Art Collection
- National Museum of African Art
- Topic
- male
- Record ID
- nmafa_89-13-75
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ys7ff6d2556-48b6-48c5-9391-e417f4e3bfd3
