Object Details
- Kamba artist
- Label Text
- The gourd is the container of choice throughout much of equatorial Africa. Growing in a number of shapes and sizes, it is put to a wide variety of uses as bottles, lids, rattles, drums, sounding boards for musical instruments, funnels, bowls, flasks, ladles, cups and storage containers. Often the gourd is combined with other materials, such as leather or basketry, and frequently it is decorated by carving or incising.
- The Kamba have a long history of decorating gourd containers, and although this art was lost for a time during this century, it is again being revived. In other regions of Africa, designs on gourds are usually created by heating a knife blade and burning in the desired patterns. Kamba artists use another technique: they work by incising the outer, often irregular surface of the gourd to create geometric patterns and stylized figures. Animals and other motifs taken from nature are cut into the vessel; then the lines are rubbed with ashes to produce a dark contrast with the light surface. The original color of the gourds is yellow, but over time, the surface darkens to a deep red or honey yellow.
- This large container was probably used for storing water or beer. The dominant motif of the surface decoration, which includes stylized animals, a human figure and a tree, is a large elephant with long straight legs and a broad ear merging seamlessly into tusks and trunk. The figures are shaded with fine cross-hatching. Diamonds, triangles and checkerboard designs appear only on the neck of the vessel and within a single stripe down one side.
- Description
- Vessel composed of a bottle shaped gourd with a short tapered neck and a broad swelling body, with the neck incised with a geometric design. Incised designs of an elephant, animal, tree and human embellish the body of the container.
- Provenance
- Michael Graham-Stewart, London, -- to 1989
- Exhibition History
- Art of the Personal Object, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., September 24, 1991-April 9, 2007
- Published References
- Arnold, Marion (ed). 2008. Art in Eastern Africa. Dar es Salaam: Mkuki Na Nyota Publishers, p. 22, no. 0.10.
- National Museum of African Art. 1999. Selected Works from the Collection of the National Museum of African Art. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, p. 161, no. 117.
- 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
- Acquisition grant from the James Smithson Society
- Mid-late 20th century
- Object number
- 89-8-42
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Type
- Sculpture
- Medium
- Gourd
- Dimensions
- H x W x D: 37.1 x 35.7 x 35.4 cm (14 5/8 x 14 1/16 x 13 15/16 in.)
- Geography
- Kenya
- See more items in
- National Museum of African Art Collection
- National Museum of African Art
- Topic
- Animal
- elephant
- Household
- Human
- Plant
- geometric motif
- male
- Record ID
- nmafa_89-8-42
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ys764b00fb5-350a-4a7a-94a5-c9ae9f250174
