Mambila Bird Form Vessel

The beak is open. The rings on the belly do not explain why.

This bird form vessel is Mambila, from Cameroon, and dates to the 20th century. It is terra cotta. Mambila potters in Cameroon are thought to have made figural vessels like this for rites concerned with protection, and here the creature is half bird, half person. Round eyes on small pegs flank a sharply parted beak, with little ears on either side and stacked rings around the neck. Short arms curve down around an oval coil that fills the body. Thirty inches high and twelve in diameter.

Somebody was having a good time with the clay.