Baganda Ceramic Vessel, Uganda

It has more feet than it needs, and shows no embarrassment.

This vessel is terra cotta, from the Baganda peoples of Uganda, East Africa, 20th century. Buganda has a long tradition of skilled potters, who are known for dark, carefully finished surfaces. The round body is ribbed from top to bottom with raised lines. They converge on a tall, flaring neck, where they cross in sweeping bands. Below, a ring of thick lobes spreads outward, each one marked with small round dimples and ribbed at its tip. The clay is charcoal gray with paler, dusty highlights. Twenty-one inches high and 24 in diameter.

Few pots stand so firmly on principle.