About this artwork
The snakes, crocodiles and lizards that embellish this jar have an improvisational quality that is akin to the immediacy of gesture drawing. The jar’s yellowish color suggests it was used to store shea butter, which seeps through the porous walls of a terracotta vessel over time, permanently discoloring it. With its multiple domestic uses, including as an ingredient in cooking and medicine and as lamp fuel, shea butter is an ideal symbol of plenty. Baatombu mothers commission jars like this to give to their daughters upon their marriage, filled with shea butter. The animals on this example probably represent the protective spirits of the owner’s family. [See also 2002.265, 2005.240, and 2005.271].
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Status
- Currently Off View
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Department
- Arts of Africa
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Culture
- Bargu
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Title
- Shea Butter Jar (Bwéeru or Wéké Gumgia)
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Place
- Benin (Object made in)
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Date
- Made 1900–1975
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Medium
- Terracotta
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Dimensions
- 27.9 × 30.5 cm (11 × 12 in.)
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Credit Line
- Gift of Keith Achepohl
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Reference Number
- 2005.272
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.
