H x W x D: 29 x 22.3 x 22 cm (11 7/16 x 8 3/4 x 8 11/16 in.)
Type:
Ceramics
Geography:
Burkina Faso
Date:
ca. 1969
Label Text:
This painted vessel was purchased in Kaya, Burkina Faso, in 1969. The imagery presents a conventional ordering of the universe in which fish are creatures of the water realm, man is of the land, and snakes are in both domains. Man’s world is depicted on the reverse of this vessel.
Description:
Medium sized jar colored with brown and red pigments and covered with five registers of designs. The base is covered ith white vertical stripes. The bottom three registers are covered with upside down triangles placed on a background of brown vertical stripes. The shoulder depicts a human figure flanked by two snakes on one side and a snake flanked by two fish on the other all against a light background. Above this scene is a band of triangles against a background of brown horizontal stripes topped by a flared neck with white vertical stripes.
Provenance:
Allen C. Davis, Alexandria, Virginia, acquired Kaya, Burkina Faso, 1969-1970 to 2002
Exhibition History:
Currents: Water in African Art, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., June 2016-ongoing
Content Statement:
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