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Container for Valuables

A work made of blackened terracotta.

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  • A work made of blackened terracotta.

Date:

Early/mid–20th century

Artist:

Gur-speaking peoples
Burkina Faso or Ghana
Northern Africa and the Sahel

About this artwork

Among the Gur-speaking peoples, potters use the direct pull method, pushing into a lump of clay to form the pot’s base and pulling upward while rotating the mass to form the walls. They then scrape the clay to consolidate it and to perfect the form. Elegant, round-bodied containers such as this one, which feature a lid cut seamlessly from the body and a flared topknot that acts as a handle, are made by many Gur-speaking peoples and are intended to hold valuables. On this container, the widest expanse and the outline of the lid are accentuated by bands of three or four thinly incised lines highlighted with kaolin; this form of decoration is typical of pots made in northern Ghana and just across the border in Burkina Faso. [See also 2005.229].

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Arts of Africa

Culture

Gur

Title

Container for Valuables

Place

Burkina Faso (Object made in)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 1900–1950

Medium

Blackened terracotta

Dimensions

34.9 × 31.8 cm (13 3/4 × 12 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Keith Achepohl

Reference Number

2005.232

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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