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Vessel
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
Women were and still are responsible for the making of terracotta pots among the Mangbetu. It seems, however, that men added the figurative elements that embellish examples like the one shown here. The depicted head with its elongated skull and halolike coiffure imitates the cranial deformation and hairstyle fashionable among female Mangbetu royalty at the beginning of the 20th century. Typically used for wine, many vessels were also explicitly made for sale to foreigners.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineVessel, early 1900s. Central Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mangbetu, early 20th century. Terracotta; diameter: 17.1 cm (6 3/4 in.); overall: 35 x 15.6 cm (13 3/4 x 6 1/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Mary Spedding Milliken Memorial Collection, Gift of William Mathewson Milliken, 1992.69
