Collection record · Objects & craft
Snuff Container
The collection record classifies this work as vessels. It is dated 1800s-1900s. Recorded culture or place: Africa, Southern Africa, Lesotho, South Sotho maker.
Explore the object recordOBJECT RECORD
A closer look at the details.
- Museum title
- Snuff Container
- Date
- 1800s-1900s
- Culture / origin
- Africa, Southern Africa, Lesotho, South Sotho maker
- Materials and technique
- Horn and wood
- Dimensions
- Overall: 10.3 x 4 x 3.5 cm (4 1/16 x 1 9/16 x 1 3/8 in.)
- Artist / maker
- Not specified by the museum
- Museum
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Accession number
- 2010.202
FROM THE MUSEUM
In the museum’s words
The following description is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art’s original English record.
This snuff container in the form of a human (female) figure was carved from cattle horn. The form of the image follows the curve of the horn, with arms and hands held to the chest. Despite its smallish size and minimalist execution, this object demonstrates considerable expressive power. Cattle had special meaning for the pastoralist peoples of southern Africa in that it stood for the wealth and status of the individual and the group. However, similar to the ideas associated with tobacco and snuff, cattle also referred to the world of the ancestors. Snuff containers like this one had great significance for their owners and users.
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Text and image sources
The Cleveland Museum of Art · Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund · CC0
The summary is based on public collection data. Refer to the museum’s latest record for the title, date and attribution.
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