Vessel
Used for water and oil and made without handles, jars produced in the northeastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo were embellished with incised designs that made them easy to pick up. Potters used wooden roulettes and finger impressions to decorate these prestige objects. They were made for local chiefs and often given as gifts to European visitors. While potters were typically women in this region, many of the elaborately decorated examples known from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were made by male blacksmiths and carvers. In that period, there was an efflorescence in the production of decorated pottery among several neighboring groups. European travelers in the mid-nineteenth century wrote admiringly of the elaborate vessels made by Mangbetu, Zande, and Barambo potters. In cosmopolitan centers like the town of Niangara, where European travelers, soldiers, and administrators clustered, potters from different places shared techniques and styles, making it difficult to attribute particular designs or formats to a single group.
Enid Schildkrout, Curator Emerita, American Museum of Natural History, 2025
Enid Schildkrout, Curator Emerita, American Museum of Natural History, 2025
Artwork Details
- Title: Vessel
- Artist: Mangbetu, Zande, or Barambo artist
- Date: 20th century
- Geography: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Northeastern region
- Culture: Mangbetu, Zande, or Barambo peoples
- Medium: Terracotta
- Dimensions: H. 9 3/4 x W. 6 3/4 in. (24.8 x 17.1 cm)
- Classification: Ceramics-Containers
- Credit Line: Gift of Drs. John and Nicole Dintenfass, 2003
- Object Number: 2003.585
- Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing
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