Water or Palm Wine Vessel

Nupe people, Nigeria, African

20th century

  • Titles Water or Palm Wine Vessel (Descriptive)
  • Medium fired clay, metal, and slip
  • Dimensions 15 5/8 x 12 1/2 in. Diam. (39.7 x 31.8 cm)
  • Credit Line Collection of the Art Fund, Inc. at the Birmingham Museum of Art; Dick Jemison Collection of African Pottery, AFI.401.2012
  • Work Type vessel
  • Classification Containers

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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.
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