The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of January 26, 2021

Snuff Container

1800s-1900s

Southern Africa, South Africa, Zimbabwe or Mozambique, Northern Nguni or Shona

Gourd and copper alloy

Overall: 7.5 cm (2 15/16 in.)

Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 2010.200

Location

108B Southern African

Description

The shape and material of gourd snuff containers—like a woman’s womb, the gourd contains and nurtures the seed—suggest they were made for female users and allude to procreation and fecundity.

Provenance
Marc and Denyse Ginzberg, New York, 1981 to 2007; Sotheby's Paris, Sept. 10, 2007 (lot 96)
Exhibition history

Cleveland Museum of Art, (4/16/11-2/26/12); "The Art of Daily Life: Portable Objects from Southeast Africa" cat. no. 17

The Art of Daily Life: Portable Objects from Southern Africa. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 17, 2011-February 26, 2012).

Source URL: https://cmaweb23-bbn-2.clevelandart.org/art/2010.200