Jar

Arts of Africa

Early/mid–20th century

Yoruba
Osogbo or vicinity, Nigeria
Coastal West Africa

The potters in and around the town of Osogbo are known for their tall, cylindrical jars. This elaborately decorated vessel features a human face at the midpoint of its long neck, which suggests that it was made for a shrine dedicated to the goddess Osun (Mother of Life-Giving Waters), the namesake of the river near Osogbo. It likely held river stones and water.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of Africa

Culture: Yoruba
Title: Jar
Place: Nigeria (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 1900–1975
Medium: Terracotta
Dimensions: 59.7 × 31.1 cm (23 1/2 × 12 1/4 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Keith Achepohl
Reference Number: 2005.277

Kathleen Bickford Berzock, For Hearth and Altar: African Ceramics from the Keith Achepohl Collection (The Art Institute and Yale University Press, 2005), pp. 112-113.

Des Moines, Iowa, Anderson Gallery, Drake University, Earthen Vessels: Central and West African Works of Fired Clay, Oct. 5–Nov. 3, 1996, cat. 23.
Art Institute of Chicago, For Hearth and Altar: African Ceramics from the Keith Achepohl Collection, Dec. 3, 2005–Feb. 20, 2006, cat. 63.

Unnamed owner, New York, N.Y., by 1996; sold to Douglas Dawson Gallery, Chicago, Ill., 1996; sold to Keith Achepohl, Iowa City, Iowa, 1996; given to the Art Institute, 2005.

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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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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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