Vessel with Stylized Spider Motif

Bamileke or Bamum

Not on view

This mid-sized vessel was probably used either as a man's wash basin or a serving bowl. Possibly created in Babessi, on the Ndop Plain, a center of ceramic production extensively studied by anthropologist and curator Silvia Forni, such vessels might have originally held ritual significance. Today, their meaning has been broadened to take on a wider range of meaning as symbols of a greater social identity. The stylized spider motif represents a house-spider and is associated with notions of generosity.

Vessel with Stylized Spider Motif, Terracotta, Bamileke or Bamum

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