Shrine Jar

YorubaWW-1875-139957

1875·Terracotta·30.5 × 31.2 × 31.2 cm (12 × 12 1/4 × 12 1/4 in.)

<p>The Yoruba use a convex mold to form the base of a pot and then complete it with coils. This elegant, understated shrine vessel, with its wide mouth and full body that tapers to a soft point at the bottom, is clearly Yoruba in shape. The container’s subtly bowed neck stands in contrast to its rounded shoulder. A ledge marks the meeting of these two forms, from which sharply rendered ribs descend to define deep channels in rhythmic intervals around the body of the vessel. This handsome pot has no representational imagery to indicate the deity it was made to honor; yet wide-mouthed containers are often found on shrines for Sango, the god of thunder and protector of twins, where they support calabashes that hold sacred objects.</p>

Catalogue

Year: 1875
Medium: Terracotta
Dimensions: 30.5 × 31.2 × 31.2 cm (12 × 12 1/4 × 12 1/4 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Yoruba

Artist

Yoruba

Textile

Yoruba is an Atlantic–Congo language that is spoken in West Africa, primarily in South West Nigeria, Benin, and parts of Togo. It is spoken by the Yoruba people. Yoruba speakers number roughly 50 million, including around 2 million second-language or L2 speakers. As a pluricentric language, it is primarily spoken in a dialectal area spanning Nigeria, Benin, and Togo with smaller migrated communities in Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone and Gambia.

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