- Museum number
- Af1910,1026.1
- Description
-
Pottery bottle, red with dark brown marblings.
- Production date
- 1880s
- Dimensions
-
Height: 24 centimetres
-
Width: 20 centimetres
- Curator's comments
-
See J H Weeks, ‘Among Congo Cannibals’, 1913, p.88 (on Boloki = Bangala) pottery:
The pottery made by the Boloki women divides itself easily into three kinds : 1. Saucepans of various sizes but only one shape. 2. Wine-pots from 6 inches high to 2 and 3 feet high and broad in proportion. 3. Firepans or hearths for carrying fire in their canoes when travelling. These latter had three prongs overhanging the top of the saucepan, upon which an ordinary cooking-pot could be placed, and allow of a free passage of air to the fire. (No. 1 was called lobeki. No. 2 mobako, or a small size ndubu. No. 3 was named lokenge. There were many other names, but they only differentiated the sizes, and also showed whether they were well or badly made, etc.) They had no knowledge of a wheel, but built up their pottery on a base by rolling the clay between the palms of the hands into long pencils about the size of a finger, and then welding the strip to the base and flattening it out with the fingers as they worked round the pot. The only decorations I have seen on their pottery are " chevrons " and " herring-bone." In baking their pottery no kilns were used, but firewood was laid carefully on the ground, and the pots arranged on the top, and then small firewood, twigs, etc., were thrown over the whole pile and the fire lighted. On the Mobangi River I saw some varnishing done. When the pots were sufficiently baked, and while still very hot, they were rubbed over with lumps of gum copal. Pots treated in this way were suitable for drinking- vessels, or as dishes in which to place food ; but they were unsuitable for cooking purposes, for directly the pot got hot the gum copal caught fire. Some, before being rubbed over with the gum copal, were smeared with arnotto dye, and thus showed red through the glazing.
-
This pot of a distinctive yellow clay and the striking and unusual decoration is achieved by splashing the surface with a very thick, resinous, vegetable decoction while it is still hot from baking. The vegetable matter boils off rapidly, leaving an effect almost of wood grain. It is a technique used by a number of peoples around the mouth of the River Zaire
T. Phillips (ed.), Africa, the art of a continent (London, Royal Academy, 1995) pp:255
- Location
- On display (G25/dc23)
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
1996 Mar-May, Berlin, Martin Gropius Bau, Africa: The Art of a Continent
1996 May-Sep, New York, Guggenheim Museum, Africa: The Art of a Continent
- Acquisition date
- 1910
- Acquisition notes
- Af1910,1026.1 to 17 were purchased from the Rev. John H Weeks, and come from northern Angola, the region around San Salvador, where he worked as a Baptist missionary and made the collection between 1881 and 1890 (see his biography). His book 'Among the primitive Bakongo' of 1914 describes the people and their way of life.
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- Af1910,1026.1