Water Container (Funjoho)

SenufoWW-1900-014959

1900·Terracotta and slip·61.6 × 59.1 × 59.1 cm (24 1/4 × 23 1/4 × 23 1/4 in.)

<p>Large lipless water containers like this example with a delicate decorative pattern—which includes crescent motifs suggesting birds in flight—are made by female Senufo potters known as Kpeenbele: a hereditary artisan group whose members are wives of brass casters and weavers. This kind of pot was often given to a woman at her wedding and would be placed on an earthen platform in the main room of the traditional two-chambered home, next to a small personal shrine.</p>

Catalogue

Year: 1900
Medium: Terracotta and slip
Dimensions: 61.6 × 59.1 × 59.1 cm (24 1/4 × 23 1/4 × 23 1/4 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Senufo

Artist

Senufo

The Senufo or Senufic languages comprise around 15 languages spoken by the Senufo in the north of Ivory Coast, the south of Mali and the southwest of Burkina Faso. An isolated language, Nafaanra, is also spoken in the west of Ghana. The Senufo languages constitute their own branch of the Atlantic–Congo sub-family of the Niger–Congo languages. Anne Garber estimates the total number of Senufos at some 1.5 million; the Ethnologue, based on various population estimates, counts 2.7 million.

Full artist profile →