Zulu Ceramic Incised Vessel

Burnished until it shines, then cut with triangles that catch the light.

This incised vessel is Zulu, from South Africa, early 20th century, in burnished terra cotta. Zulu women potters made dark, polished vessels like this to serve and share sorghum beer, a central part of hospitality and of honoring the ancestors. The body swells wide from a narrow foot and closes to a broad shoulder. Around that shoulder runs a pattern of hatched triangles, some stepped at the edges, cut through to show paler clay. The rest of the surface is a deep brown-black, with a soft shine. It is 9.75 inches high and 11 in diameter.

Hospitality has rarely been given a better shape.