Calabash Bowl and Lid with Carved Triangle Design

• Title Calabash Bowl and Lid with Carved Triangle Design
• Category Utilitarian
• Medium Bottle Gourd
• Dimensions 10.5"h x 10"w x 10"d
• Notes Calabashes or gourds have many uses, acting as food bowls, ceremonial bowls, drinking cups, ladles, flasks, house decoration, and sound boxes for musical instruments*. The shape of this calabash, and the addition of a holed lid, entails the probability of its usage as a food bowl. A calabash container is prepared for usage through soaking of the gourd until the contents are rotten. Then the pulp is cut out and the gourd dries. The design of this calabash presumably comes from carving and the addition of white chalk and clay to stain the relief. The most elaborate of these calabashes come from northeastern Nigeria. The geometric designs are typical for bowls such as this. *Barbara Rubin, “Calabash Decoration in Northeast State, Nigeria.” (African Arts, vol. 4, no. 1, 1970), 20–25.
• Artist
• Credit Clyde and Annie Matters Collection
• Location Library Art Storage I2
• Accession Number 1994.0028.a-b
• Status Available Request this art work
  
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