11th - 13th century
Terracotta
10.5 x 9 dia. in. / 27 x 23 dia. cm
Height on custom display stand: 12.5 in. / 32 cm
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Kuba Culture, Democratic Republic of Congo
First Half 20th C.
Wood
3.75 x 2.5 dia. in. / 9.5 x 6.5 cm
The small size of this cup is unusal and the form is reminiscent of a dimutive version of a Zulu milk pail. The container would have been used for palm wine. The carved area feels soft and has acquired a fine glossy patina from use.
Domestic shipping included. International shipping quoted separately.
Kwere / Zaramo, Tanzania
Wood, natural fiber
Early 20th Century
8 x 2.5 in./ 20.5 x 6.5 cm
The artistic output of the Kwere features the omnipresence of the female form. Small, stylized, truncated dolls known as Mwana Hiti are played with by boys and girls alike. Mwana Hiti dolls depict a highly-abstracted female with a coiffure separated into two large crests. This abstract female figure also decorated containers, staffs, zithers, calabashes, and even thrones. This type of container was used for many items: medicine, pigments, tobacco, snuff, gunpowder, etc (Bacquart, The Tribal Arts of Africa, 1998).
Domestic shipping included. International shipping quoted separately.
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