Vessel with Lizard

Yungur people, Nigeria, African

Late 19th or early 20th century

  • Titles Vessel with Lizard (Descriptive)
  • Artist Yungur people, Nigeria
  • Medium fired clay and slip
  • Dimensions 18 1/4 x 11 in. Diam. (46.4 x 27.9 cm)
  • Credit Line Collection of the Art Fund, Inc. at the Birmingham Museum of Art; Dick Jemison Collection of African Pottery, AFI.314.2012
  • Work Type vessel
  • Classification Containers

See More of the Collection

Dark brown, ovoid vessel narrows at neck; body covered with bands of incised diagonal lines and herringbone pattern.
Bracelet, Yoruba people, Nigeria, African, textile, grass fibers and glass beads
Vessel cover dedicated to the river god, Erinle. Such vessels were used to hold "moving water" from rivers or the sea, but not from wells, Every sixteen days the water is renewed together with two stones taken from a river as symbols of Erinle. The stones are also considered analogous to embryos in the womb. Surmounted by a male figure with his arms around a bowl on a potstand, a salamander or other river animal is behind him, and ritual implements surround him.
Drum, Babanki people, Republic of Cameroon, African, wood, hide, nails, cord