Figurative vessel
Not on view
With two firmly planted feet, wide hips, convex torso, and arched arms, the rounded forms of this dynamic vessel evoke a human body. It belongs to a small corpus of highly sculptural receptacles produced by a ceramics workshop located near the confluence of the Congo and Ubangi rivers. Responding keenly to market demand, the artisans likely developed the anthropomorphic format of their creations with a European audience in mind. Early twentieth-century Mangbetu and Zande artisans, like the author of the adjacent figurative vessel, similarly adapted their style to accommodate foreign tastes. The master potter of this work carefully balanced female and male elements through the modeling of feminine proportions and the addition of a phallic summit.
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