Nupe Ceramic Storage Vessel

Rope, triangles and a rainbow, all before the belly even starts.

This storage vessel is Nupe work from Nigeria in West Africa, late 19th or early 20th century, in incised and painted terra cotta. Large Nupe jars were built by hand, without a wheel, to keep water and grain in the home. An arched motif sits among stripes at the shoulder, above two twisted ridges like rope. Pale lines make a large running zigzag around the widest part, with a wavy band beneath it. The lower half is combed and mottled dark. Twenty and a half inches high and nineteen across.

The lower half has gone quiet. Most of us do.