Collection record · Objects & craft
Palm Wine Vessel (kuh mendu)
The collection record classifies this work as vessels. It is dated 1900s. Recorded culture or place: Probably Babessi or Bamessing, Cameroon, Cameroon Grassfields-style pottery, unknown female ceramicist.
Explore the object recordOBJECT RECORD
A closer look at the details.
- Museum title
- Palm Wine Vessel (kuh mendu)
- Date
- 1900s
- Culture / origin
- Probably Babessi or Bamessing, Cameroon, Cameroon Grassfields-style pottery, unknown female ceramicist
- Materials and technique
- Terracotta
- Dimensions
- Overall: 45 cm (17 11/16 in.)
- Artist / maker
- Not specified by the museum
- Museum
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Accession number
- 1998.94
FROM THE MUSEUM
In the museum’s words
The following description is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art’s original English record.
Made by a female potter nearly a century ago, this palm wine vessel represents past and present cultural practices in the Cameroon Grassfields (northwest and western Cameroon). Women in the pottery-producing centers of Babessi and Bamessing hand-built these vessels. Their process alludes to pregnancy, labor, and delivery. Passing knowledge from mother to daughter since at least the 1700s, making pottery is a female economic, social, and artistic contribution. Yet many motifs refer to royal or male power, such as the lizards on this vessel. Elegant palm wine vessels like this were appropriate for ritual and hospitality in Cameroon Grassfields royal courts.
FOLLOW THE SOURCE
Text and image sources
The Cleveland Museum of Art · John L. Severance Fund · CC0
The summary is based on public collection data. Refer to the museum’s latest record for the title, date and attribution.
Open the complete museum record View the open-access policyTHE VISITOR BOOK
What caught your eye?
Opening the visitor book…
