Object Notes

Zulu women make izinkamba (sing. ukhamba) in different shapes and sizes for brewing, transporting, storing, and drinking beer This vessel is for drinking beer.

This sculpture is one of seventeen standing female figures attributed to the Master of Ogol, an artist who worked in villages located on the Bandiagara Escarpment.

Ndoma means "double." Masks like this one portray prominent members of the village, who—although idealized with a composed facial expression and respectful downcast eyes—can be recognized by their facial features, hairstyles, and scarifications. They are usually commissioned by a man to honor a female relative or to be presented by a carver in homage to a beautiful and talented female dancer.

This stool is carved in the form of two opposing cones that appear as if they are separate pieces joined at their narrow ends; however, the stool was carved from a single block of wood. The two cone-forms are thought to be symbolic: the upper cone symbolizes the skies or heaven and the lower one the earth.

Akan portraiture is generic and idealized; however, Akan viewers would recognize the subject based on the individualized hairstyle and specific facial scarification at the temples. 

This over life-size figure represents Owedjebo, a village founder and warrior of the Agbon clan. He assumes an aggressive pose with an intense gaze and an inflated chest; he holds a spear in one hand and a cutlass in the other (now missing). He is depicted wearing a warrior's bush pig tusk headband, a chest pendant, and leather belts with bells.

French glass designer René Jules Lalique's opalescent white, spherical molded glass vase depicts berry-laden mistletoe branches in bas-relief.

The upper portion of this roughly globular vessel with a long ringed neck is elaborately decorated with textured and plain interlocking triangles separated by raised lines and circles. The rounded bottom of the vessel rested on a fiber ring.

Commissioned by thankful petitioners, this figure and its pair were once placed on an altar dedicated to Shango, the Yoruba thunder god (See also [1994.199.1.McD]). His wrath and power are manifested in thunder and lightning, which he uses to punish those who do not honor him.