Storage Container

Arts of Africa

19th/mid–20th century

Kurumba
Burkina Faso
Northern Africa and the Sahel

These tall cylindrical storage containers are like miniature granaries in both form and function, and may be found lined up in rows in the kitchens of homes. They hold the life-sustaining grains—primarily millet, sorghum, and corn—that are grown in the short rainy season of the arid western Sahel region from June until September. Such vessels also safeguard personal valuables. This three-legged example is embellished with patterns that mimic traditional scarifications upon the belly of a Kurumba mother.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of Africa

Culture: Kurumba
Title: Storage Container
Place: Burkina Faso (Object made for:)
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.: 1800–1950
Medium: Terracotta
Dimensions: 67.5 × 45 × 59 cm (26 5/8 × 17 3/4 × 23 1/4 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Keith Achepohl
Reference Number: 2006.746

Kathleen Bickford Berzock, For Hearth and Altar: African Ceramics from the Keith Achepohl Collection (The Art Institute and Yale University Press, 2006), p. 81.

Art Institute of Chicago, For Hearth and Altar: African Ceramics from the Keith Achepohl Collection, Dec. 3, 2005–Feb. 20, 2006, cat. 38.

Unknown owner, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, by 1995; sold to Galerie Keith Barton, Ranchos De Taos, N.Mex., by 1995; sold to Keith Achepohl, Iowa City, Iowa, 1995; given to the Art Institute, 2006.

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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