Pitcher for Palm Wine (Mba Molu)

Arts of Africa

Late 20th century

Martin Fombah (born c. 1950)
Nsei
Nsei, Cameroon
Coastal West Africa

Throughout much of Cameroon, potters spend a considerable amount of time making containers for serving and drinking palm wine, the sharing of which is an important gesture of hospitality that fosters communion with ancestors. For these reasons, palm wine is an essential part of court and regulatory society ritual. [See also 1995.11, 2005.274, 2012.501].

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of Africa

Culture: Nsei
Title: Pitcher for Palm Wine (Mba Molu)
Place: Cameroon (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 1975–1999
Medium: Blackened terracotta
Dimensions: 30.5 × 20.3 cm (12 × 8 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Keith Achepohl
Reference Number: 2004.742

Kathleen Bickford Berzock, “Water Container, Pitcher for Palm Wine, Bottle,” Notable Acquisitions at the Art Institute, Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 32, 1 (2006), pp. 14-15, 94.
Kathleen Bickford Berzock, For Hearth and Altar: African Ceramics from the Keith Achepohl Collection (The Art Institute and Yale University Press, 2005), pp. 151-153.

Art Institute of Chicago, For Hearth and Altar: African Ceramics from the Keith Achepohl Collection, Dec. 3, 2005–Feb. 20, 2006, cat. 95.

Douglas Dawson Gallery, Chicago, Ill., by 2001; sold to Keith Acehpohl, Iowa City, Iowa, 2001; given to the Art Institute, 2004.

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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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