Water Container (Funjoho)

Description

Large lipless water containers like this example with a delicate decorative pattern—which includes crescent motifs suggesting birds in flight—are made by female Senufo potters known as Kpeenbele: a hereditary artisan group whose members are wives of brass casters and weavers. This kind of pot was often given to a woman at her wedding and would be placed on an earthen platform in the main room of the traditional two-chambered home, next to a small personal shrine.

Provenance

Unnamed owner, United States, by 1994; sold to Douglas Dawson, Douglas Dawson Gallery, Chicago, Ill., 1994; sold to Keith Achepohl, Iowa City, Iowa, by 2005; given to the Art Institute, 2005.

Water Container (Funjoho)

Senufo

Early/mid–20th century

Accession Number

185662

Medium

Terracotta and slip

Dimensions

61.6 × 59.1 × 59.1 cm (24 1/4 × 23 1/4 × 23 1/4 in.)

Classification

container

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Gift of Keith Achepohl