Tutsi Vessel with Geometric Motif

A raised cross inside a sunken circle, repeated around the body like a set of signets.

This vessel with geometric motif is Tutsi, from Rwanda, East Africa, and dates to the late 19th or early 20th century. It is terra cotta and pigment. Pottery in Rwanda has a long history, with vessels made for storage, brewing and ceremony, and decoration often kept spare and geometric. The rounded body has four flattened faces, each holding a deep circular recess with a raised cross at its center. A ringed neck rises to a flared rim. The reddish surface is stained darker in places. It is 21.75 inches high and 18.75 in diameter.

The design is simple. Getting it right four times is not.