Makonde Ceramic Storage Vessel

Someone went to considerable trouble over a pot for keeping things in.

This storage vessel is terra cotta, made by the Makonde peoples of Tanzania, East Africa, in the 20th century. Makonde households on both sides of the border between Tanzania and Mozambique used large clay pots to store water, grain and beer, and women were commonly the potters. A wide, squat body rises to a flared neck. Bands of fine incised decoration, reading almost white, circle the shoulder, with braided vines hanging between them. Below, the surface is plain and mottled brown. Nineteen inches in diameter.

Whatever went inside was well dressed.