Snuff Container (1800s–1900s): Art, History and Details

Snuff Container (1800s–1900s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Combining beauty and functionality, this finely carved wooden snuff container is adorned with twisted strands of colorful glass beads. Once an object of status, it signaled the wealth and taste of its owner. Its general shape and the parallel ridges appear to be the skillful imitation of a fruit. Throughout southern Africa and elsewhere on the continent, smoking tobacco and taking snuff are enjoyed as activities that enhance positive social relationships. Both men and women wore these personal and portable objects attached to cloaks, carried in bags, or adorning the neck, arm, or waist.

Object facts

• Title: Snuff Container
• Date: 1800s–1900s
• Culture: Africa, Southern Africa, South Africa, Northern Nguni-style maker
• Type: Vessels
• Technique: Wood, glass beads, shell, and cotton
• Dimensions: Overall: 20.3 cm (8 in.)
• Collection: African Art
• Department: African Art
• Accession number: 2010.201

A detail from the museum

A man likely made the wooden container while a woman likely made the beaded attachment.

Collection credit

Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Pemberton, John, III. African Beaded Art: Power and Adornment, exh. cat. Northampton, Massachusetts: Smith College Museum of Art, 2008, cat. 93
• Petridis, Constatine. "The Art of Daily Life: Portable Objects from Southeast Africa. " Tribal Art. (Summer 2011). Pg. 66, Fig. 1.

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.