Dogon Ceramic Vessel, Mali

Big as a beach ball, and about as round.

This large Dogon vessel was made in terra cotta in Mali, West Africa, in the 20th century. Pots of this globe shape are commonly made for water or grain storage, where a narrow neck helps keep the contents covered. The body swells to a nearly perfect sphere in a pale salmon-orange clay. A ring of tiny stamped chevrons runs around the shoulder, and the lower half is plain, dusty and lightly pitted.

About nineteen inches tall and as wide. Gives an empty corner something to think about.