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Source Description
This snuff container in the form of a human (female) figure was carved from cattle horn. The form of the image follows the curve of the horn, with arms and hands held to the chest. Despite its smallish size and minimalist execution, this object demonstrates considerable expressive power. Cattle had special meaning for the pastoralist peoples of southern Africa in that it stood for the wealth and status of the individual and the group. However, similar to the ideas associated with tobacco and snuff, cattle also referred to the world of the ancestors. Snuff containers like this one had great significance for their owners and users.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
168423
label
Snuff Container
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
168423
contentType
object
title
Snuff Container
description
This snuff container in the form of a human (female) figure was carved from cattle horn. The form of the image follows the curve of the horn, with arms and hands held to the chest. Despite its smallish size and minimalist execution, this object demonstrates considerable expressive power. Cattle had special meaning for the pastoralist peoples of southern Africa in that it stood for the wealth and status of the individual and the group. However, similar to the ideas associated with tobacco and snuff, cattle also referred to the world of the ancestors. Snuff containers like this one had great significance for their owners and users.
date
1800s-1900s
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q60778298
genreSpecific
Vessels
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 10.3 x 4 x 3.5 cm (4 1/16 x 1 9/16 x 1 3/8 in.)
cul
Africa, Southern Africa, Lesotho, South Sotho maker
accession
2010.202
Source extras
tec
Horn and wood
tombstone
Snuff Container, 1800s-1900s. Africa, Southern Africa, Lesotho, South Sotho maker. Horn and wood; overall: 10.3 x 4 x 3.5 cm (4 1/16 x 1 9/16 x 1 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund, 2010.202
collection
African Art
didYouKnow
The tobacco product snuff was stored in decorative, yet useful, containers like this one.
citations
citation
Petridis, Constatine. "The Art of Daily Life: Portable Objects from Southeast Africa. " Tribal Art. (Summer 2011). Pg. 66, Fig. 2.
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: P. 41
citation
Rondeau, James, Constantijn Petridis, Yaëlle Biro, Herbert M. Cole, Kassim Kone, Babatunde Lawal, Wilfried Van Damme, and Susan Mullin Vogel. T<em>he language of beauty in African art.</em> 2022.
creditline
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 08:39:56.426000
sourceId
168423
dept
African Art
coll
African Art
med
Horn and wood
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
fa3225adbb1cbbf5