Songye Ceramic Vessel, Democratic Republic of Congo

Someone ruled nested squares around the neck with an unusually steady hand.

This vessel is Songye, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, 20th century, in terra cotta. The Songye are best known for power figures and masks, but their potters also made vessels like this, generally to store water, grain or beer for households and gatherings. Stacked rings climb the neck to a thick rim. Below them, a band of nested squares circles the upper body, set off by a projecting, shelf-like shoulder. Incised arches run around the belly above a plain rounded base. The surface is dark. Eighteen and a half inches high and 15 in diameter.

Decoration stops at exactly the point where it would be sat on.