Jar

Early/mid–20th century

Mangbetu
Uele region, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Central Africa

From the early 1900s, decorative containers for storing beer, oil, water, and wine have served as luxury items for Mangbetu rulers and the elite while also increasingly being sold to European travelers. The spherical base of this jar is ingeniously joined to the neck by four arching tubes. Mangbetu potters, who were typically female, favored indented and incised designs like the one displayed here: circular motifs combined with patterns were created by pushing a roulette (a toothed disk) across the surface.

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

Culture: Mangbetu
Title: Jar
Place: Democratic Republic of the Congo (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: Terracotta
Dimensions: 26.7 × 17.8 cm (10 1/2 × 7 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Keith Achepohl
Reference Number: 2005.254

Kathleen Bickford Berzock, For Hearth and Altar: African Ceramics from the Keith Achepohl Collection (The Art Institute and Yale University Press, 2005), pp. 164-165.

Art Institute of Chicago, For Hearth and Altar: African Ceramics from the Keith Achepohl Collection, Dec. 3, 2005–Feb. 20, 2006, cat. 102.

Eric Ghysels, Ethnographie des 5 Continents, Brussels, by 1993; sold to Douglas Dawson Gallery, Chicago, Ill., 1993; sold to Keith Achepohl, Iowa City, Iowa, 2001; given to the Art Institute, 2005.

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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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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