Ask the Scholar
Document scope · 1 page
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory.
For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.
Source Description
The Nupe, an Islamic people from northern Nigeria, embellish pottery and metalwork with intricate, nonrepresentational patterning. A female potter built this vessel by joining two bowls into a globe shape, then adding the neck. After drying, she used shells to press in designs before burnishing the exterior to a high shine. Finally, she fired the gourd-shaped vessel in a furnace. The patterns beautify and allow a firm grip when lifting the vessel. As the Gwari and Nupe people are neighbors, pottery shapes and designs often transferred between them. Look for similar zigzags and concentric lines on the nearby Gwari-inspired vessels.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
159001
label
Water Transport Jar
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
159001
contentType
object
title
Water Transport Jar
description
The Nupe, an Islamic people from northern Nigeria, embellish pottery and metalwork with intricate, nonrepresentational patterning. A female potter built this vessel by joining two bowls into a globe shape, then adding the neck. After drying, she used shells to press in designs before burnishing the exterior to a high shine. Finally, she fired the gourd-shaped vessel in a furnace. The patterns beautify and allow a firm grip when lifting the vessel. As the Gwari and Nupe people are neighbors, pottery shapes and designs often transferred between them. Look for similar zigzags and concentric lines on the nearby Gwari-inspired vessels.
date
1900s
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q79977953
genreSpecific
Vessels
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Diameter: 35.7 cm (14 1/16 in.); Overall: 36.9 cm (14 1/2 in.)
cul
Africa, West Africa, Nigeria, Nupe-style pottery, unknown female potter
accession
1995.21
Source extras
tec
Terracotta
tombstone
Water Transport Jar, 1900s. Africa, West Africa, Nigeria, Nupe-style pottery, unknown female potter. Terracotta; diameter: 35.7 cm (14 1/16 in.); overall: 36.9 cm (14 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1995.210
collection
African Art
didYouKnow
The shape of this vessel probably developed from real gourds used to hold liquids.
citations
citation
"Permanent Collection Installations.” <em>Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine </em>65, no. 3 (2024): 16-17.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 17; Mentioned: p. 16
creditline
John L. Severance Fund
sketchfabId
7364547bb78c421198dddcd1be4897af
updatedAt
2026-06-18 21:17:15.642000
sourceId
159001
dept
African Art
coll
African Art
med
Terracotta
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
1164c8a0709b6548