Sifting Basket (before 1915): Art, History and Details

Sifting Basket (before 1915) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The Chokwe pounded maize into a course flour and then sifted it in order to separate the finest flour for cooking. This domestic object exhibits a refined, elegant artistry in its proportion, shape, and integrated woven textures.

Object facts

• Title: Sifting Basket
• Date: before 1915
• Culture: Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo or Angola, possibly Chokwe-style maker
• Type: Tools and Equipment
• Technique: Plant fibers and dye
• Dimensions: Overall: 39.4 cm (15 1/2 in.); Outside: 39.4 x 20.7 cm (15 1/2 x 8 1/8 in.)
• Collection: African Art
• Department: African Art
• Accession number: 1915.464

A detail from the museum

F. M. Rapp––who acquired this basket in Congo while working for a diamond mine––attended the Case School of Applied Science in Cleveland.

Collection credit

Educational Purchase Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Curnow, Kathy. At Home in Africa: Design, Beauty, and Pleasing Irregularity in Domestic Settings. The Galleries at Cleveland State University, 2014, cat. no. 1-3, pg. 46

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.