Object Details
- 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 delicate white glass beads carefully arranged and embedded in the shoulder and handle contrast with the dark colored body of this cone-shaped vessel. The beads may have been imported and the object used by either Africans or Europeans to hold water.
- Description
- Dark colored vessel with a cone-shaped body and a handle. The handle and shoulder of the vessel are embedded with small white beads placed in a zigzag pattern over a series of crisscross incisions. A circle of beads is placed above this area.
- Provenance
- Walshaert collection, Antwerp, 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
- 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 Please note that some records are incomplete (missing image or content descriptions) and others reflect out-of-date language or systems of thought regarding how to engage with and discuss cultural heritage and the specifics of individual artworks.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/
- Data Source
- National Museum of African Art
- Maker
- Kongo artist
- Date
- Early 20th century
- Credit Line
- Purchased with funds provided by the Smithsonian Collections Acquisition Program
- Medium
- Ceramic, glass beads
- Dimensions
- H x W x D: 20.1 x 16.9 x 16.7 cm (7 15/16 x 6 5/8 x 6 9/16 in.)
- Type
- Ceramics
