H x W x D: 54.6 x 55.2 x 55.2 cm (21 1/2 x 21 3/4 x 21 3/4 in.)
Type:
Ceramics
Geography:
Burkina Faso
Ghana
Date:
ca. 1940
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 drawing of the trident shapes is reminiscent of Lobi three-headed serpents. The proximity of the Dagari and the Lobi makes this similarity less than coincidental. Dagari potters as well as several other groups in Burkina Faso mastered the form of the rimless vessel. The unusual pear shape is characteristic of Dagari vessels as well.
Description:
Dark brown spherical vessel with no neck with a motif at the top that repeats itself five times. It consists of three arrows projecting upwards from a series of semicircular incisions.
Provenance:
Douglas Dawson Textiles & Ethnographic Arts, Chicago, acquired in Burkina Faso, 1999 to 2000
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