Nupe Ceramic Storage Vessel

Pale triangles at the shoulder, like a row of teeth in the clay.

A Nupe piece from Nigeria in West Africa, this storage vessel dates to the late 19th or early 20th century and is made of incised and painted terra cotta. Jars this size stood in Nupe compounds holding water or grain, and the women who made them were admired for their surface work. Triangles over stippled panels ring the upper body. Zigzag bands circle the belly below a thick ridge at its widest point, and combed arcs fill the lower part. Twenty-one and a half inches high and twenty across.

Zigzags do not lie flat on a curve. These manage.