Dorze Calabash or Vessel, Ethiopia

Burnt orange vessel with a cross shaped starburst on its belly.

This incised and painted gourd calabash from the Dorze people is Dorze, from Ethiopia, East Africa, and dates to the 20th century. Calabash gourds are dried and hollowed so they can serve as bowls, bottles and containers, a practice found in many parts of Africa. Photographed, a bright, glossy double bulb with an engraved cross like motif on the lower body and diamond bands around the upper bulb. A strip of strip binds the waist with a beaded line trailing up the side. Black patches speckle it. It is 10 inches high and 6 in diameter.

Marked with a flourish and tied with a bow.