Snuff Spoon (intshengula or izintshengula) (late 1800s): Art, History and Details

Snuff Spoon (intshengula or izintshengula) (late 1800s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Often, snuff spoons made from the rib of an ox or cow were subtly carved to suggest a female body. Decorated with incised designs blackened with cattle fat and ash, many are true hybrid objects, combining a spoon with a long-tined comb or hairpin. Such spoons were typically worn as ornaments in the hair or even the beard, thus signaling the social standing of their wearer.

Object facts

• Title: Snuff Spoon (intshengula or izintshengula)
• Date: late 1800s
• Culture: Africa, Southern Africa, South Africa, Zulu-style maker
• Type: Tools and Equipment
• Technique: bone
• Dimensions: Overall: 17.8 cm (7 in.)
• Collection: African Art
• Department: African Art
• Accession number: 2010.234

A detail from the museum

Such spoons were typically worn as ornaments in the hair or even the beard, signaling the social standing of their wearer.

Collection credit

Gift of Dori and Daniel Rootenberg, Jacaranda Tribal, New York

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.