Terra Cotta

Burnished clay, still faintly glossy from the potter’s stone. Antique terra cotta vessels and African pottery here come from Mali, Nigeria, the Congo, Burkina Faso, South Africa, Indonesia and beyond. Djenne vessels from the inland Niger delta of Mali date roughly to the 12th through 17th centuries. Nupe storage vessels from Nigeria, Zulu ukhamba beer pots and Lobi beer fermentation vessels show how much of social life was carried in clay.

There are Azande anthropomorphic and janiform vessels, Chamba figural vessels, a Luba wine vessel, Songye, Dogon, Gurunsi, Mossi and Dan pots, a Bongo water vessel from South Sudan and a Tutsi vessel with geometric patterns from Rwanda. From Indonesia come Javanese kendi and shipwreck pottery from the Java Sea. Set a large pot on the floor beside a staircase, or gather a few smaller ones on a deep windowsill. Clay, fire and a long memory for shape.