Container

18th/19th century

Kongo
Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, or Republic of the Congo
Central Africa

Basketwork boxes decorated with interlocking geometric patterns were produced in the Congolese region and adjacent Angola well into the 20th century. Such containers were used for the storage of luxury wares including raffia textiles and ivory accessories. Some were exported to Europe as early as the mid-17th century and became part of the collections of royals and wealthy aristocrats.

Status: On View, Gallery 137
Department: Arts of Africa

Culture: Kongo
Title: Container
Place: Angola (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.: 1700–1899
Medium: Rattan, wood, and twine
Dimensions: 34.9 × 55.9 × 26.7 cm (13 3/4 × 22 × 10 1/2 in.)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by Jamee and Marshall Field; Pauline S. Armstrong Endowment
Reference Number: 2003.13
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/180495/manifest.json

Vanessa Drake Moraga, Weaving Abstraction: Kuba Textiles and the Woven Art of Central Africa (Washington, D.C.: The Textile Museum, 2011), pp. 33.

Unknown private collection, Belgium, before 1960 [note in curatorial file specifies that the object had been in the collection since the colonial period]; [probably] Emanuel Ameloot, Gallery Ufundi, Gent, Belgium, before 2002; sold to Alex Arthur, Brussels, Belgium, before 2002; sold to Andrés Moraga, Berkeley, Calif., by 2002; sold to the Art Institute, 2003.

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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.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.