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Source Description
Women were and still are responsible for the making of terracotta pots among the Mangbetu. It seems, however, that men added the figurative elements that embellish examples like the one shown here. The depicted head with its elongated skull and halolike coiffure imitates the cranial deformation and hairstyle fashionable among female Mangbetu royalty at the beginning of the 20th century. Typically used for wine, many vessels were also explicitly made for sale to foreigners.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
156853
label
Vessel
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
156853
contentType
object
title
Vessel
description
Women were and still are responsible for the making of terracotta pots among the Mangbetu. It seems, however, that men added the figurative elements that embellish examples like the one shown here. The depicted head with its elongated skull and halolike coiffure imitates the cranial deformation and hairstyle fashionable among female Mangbetu royalty at the beginning of the 20th century. Typically used for wine, many vessels were also explicitly made for sale to foreigners.
date
early 1900s
citation
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q79946876
genreSpecific
Vessels
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Diameter: 17.1 cm (6 3/4 in.); Overall: 35 x 15.6 cm (13 3/4 x 6 1/8 in.)
cul
Central Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mangbetu, early 20th century
accession
1992.69
Source extras
tec
terracotta
tombstone
Vessel, early 1900s. Central Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mangbetu, early 20th century. Terracotta; diameter: 17.1 cm (6 3/4 in.); overall: 35 x 15.6 cm (13 3/4 x 6 1/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Mary Spedding Milliken Memorial Collection, Gift of William Mathewson Milliken, 1992.69
collection
African Art
citations
citation
Turner, Evan H. “The Year in Review for 1992.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 80, no. 2 (February 1993): 38–79.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 76
citation
Smith, Fred T., Judith Perani, Joseph L. Underwood, and Martha J. Ehrlich. The Visual Arts of Africa : Gender, Power, and Life Cycle Rituals. Second edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2022.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 241-242, no. 8.11
creditline
The Mary Spedding Milliken Memorial Collection, Gift of William Mathewson Milliken
updatedAt
2026-05-29 08:09:35.472000
sourceId
156853
dept
African Art
coll
African Art
med
terracotta
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
b75392c389f4dae0