Azande Ceramic Ceremonial Pot

A small figure climbs up the pot, spikes and all, to peer into the mouth.

This ceremonial pot is Azande, from the Central African Republic, 20th century, in terra cotta. Azande potters made figural pots with heads and bodies added to the vessel, generally thought to have served as prestige objects for people of standing and at ceremonies. A long-limbed figure, pricked all over with small marks and studded with knobs, forms a looping handle from the shoulder to the neck. The straight neck is incised with stalk-like lines. At the other side of the body, a short spout and small knobs project. Fourteen and a half inches high, 17 wide.

It appears to be checking whether anyone left anything.