Bowl (early 1900s): Art, History and Details

Bowl (early 1900s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This bowl probably once held cosmetics and was hung up when not in use. The Kuba are widely known for finely crafted luxury goods decorated with geometric, linear patterning. Although made of pottery, this bowl closely resembles carved wood. Visual puns of this sort, in which one kind of material is made to look like another, are much appreciated by the Kuba.

Object facts

• Title: Bowl
• Date: early 1900s
• Culture: Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kuba-style maker
• Type: Vessels
• Technique: Earthenware
• Dimensions: Diameter: 26.4 cm (10 3/8 in.); Overall: 8.4 cm (3 5/16 in.)
• Collection: African Art
• Department: African Art
• Accession number: 1994.89

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Cleveland Museum of Art, “Recent Acquisitions to the Cleveland Museum of Art Collection,” August 26, 1994, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.