H x W x D: 21 x 30.4 x 29.4 cm (8 1/4 x 11 15/16 x 11 9/16 in.)
Type:
Ceramics
Geography:
Ghana
Date:
Late 19th-early 20th century
Label Text:
The mudfish, crescent moon and star decorations establish this vessel as one commissioned for the grave of a chief or paramount chief. The musical instruments refer to the chief's role as priest of the royal ancestral cult and have multiple meanings associated with proverbs, history and human relationships. The snakes, a Gabon viper and a boomslang, symbolize the chief as the ruler of both the forest and the savanna.
Description:
Unglazed low fire ceramic vessel in a pitcher-like form with a two handles. The horizontal surface of the body of the vessel is embellished with incised geometric motifs, and figurative relief designs: two musicians, a snake and a mudfish.
Provenance:
Paul and Ruth Tishman, New York
Exhibition History:
African Vision: The Walt Disney-Tishman African Art Collection, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., February 15, 2007-March 31, 2009
Sculpture of Black Africa: The Paul Tishman Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, October 16, 1968-January 5, 1969; The High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, August 31-November 1, 1970; University of Texas College of Fine Arts, Austin; City Art Museum, St. Louis, August 20-October 17, 1971; Des Moines Art Center; Huntington Galleries, Huntington, WV
Arts Meconnus de l'Afrique Noire: Collection de Paul Tishman, Musee de l'Homme, Paris, 1966
Published References:
Arts connus et arts méconnus de l'Afrique noire, Collection Paul Tishman. 1966. Paris: Musee de l'Homme, no. 59.
Cole, Herbert M and Doran H. Ross. 1977. The Arts of Ghana. Los Angeles: Museum of Cultural History, University of California, p. 9, no. 9.
Kreamer, Christine Mullen. 2006. "African Vision: The Walt Disney-Tishman African Art Collection." Tribal Arts 43, p. 81, no. 6.
Kreamer, Christine Mullen, Bryna Freyer and Andrea Nicolls. 2007. African Vision: The Walt Disney-Tishman African Art Collection. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, pp. 190-191, no. 64.
Leiris, Michel and Jacqueline Delange. 1968. African Art. New York: Golden Press, no. 236.
Muze'on Yisra'el. 1967. Masterpieces of African Art: Tishman Collection. Jerusalem: The Israel Museum, no. 91.
Robbins, Warren M. 1966. African Art in American Collections. New York: Frederick A. Praegerno, no. 120.
Sieber, Roy and Arnold Rubin. 1968. Sculpture of Black Africa: The Paul Tishman Collection. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, pp. 10, 60, no. 56.
Vogel, Susan (ed). 1981. For Spirits and Kings: African Art from the Paul and Ruth Tishman Collection. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp. 82-83, no. 42.
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