Ceramics are a specialized art form among Lobi, with women apprenticing to learn the requisite skills and certain groups specializing in production. Their technique, though not unique, is extraordinary to behold. Women form the rounded base of vessels by pressing their hands directly into a lump of clay and then carefully building up the walls by adding coils. Using a corncob or fruit peel, a woman will smooth and refine the form before burnishing it with a flat stone. Decorative details, such as the incised designs along the rounded shoulder of this vessel, are added when the clay is as firm as leather. Vessels are admired for balance in shape, a smoothly polished surface, uniform coloration and a pure ringing tone when tapped with a finger (Schneider 1997: 111-112)--all attributes demonstrated by this container. Such vessels were accumulated by married Lobi women who would stack them in their homes for display, sometimes concealing jewelry or cash within (Berzog 2005: 71).
Description:
Ceramic vessel with a dark brown burnished surface and incised markings along the shoulder. The mouth is circular, with raised and flared lip, and the base rounded.
Provenance:
Pennington Greene, Washington, D.C. -- to 2011
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