Calabash Bowl with Carved Bird Design

• Title Calabash Bowl with Carved Bird Design
• Category Utilitarian
• Medium Bottle Gourd
• Dimensions 5.25"h x 12.5"w x 12.5"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 entails the probability of its usage as a water or 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 on the calabash is obtained primarily through pyro-engraving or pressure engraving. The most elaborate of these calabashes come from northeastern Nigeria. The bird could be the black crowned crane, as it is the national bird of Nigeria (although this was instituted in 1985) and holds a similarity to the depicted engraving. *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 G6
• Accession Number 1994.0028.c
• Status Available Request this art work
  
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