Description
This snuff kerrie combines a knobkerrie, a short staff with a domed ball-head that could serve as a club in
hunting or combat, and a container for powdered tobacco to be used as snuff. Enhanced with human and animal features, the work has a velvety smooth, honey-colored surface. This fusion of two practical utensils into one finely carved wooden object is an excellent example of the ingenuity that characterizes work by artists in 19th-century southern Africa.
Provenance
Private collection, UK; sold, Woolley & Wallis, Salisbury, UK, Feb. 9, 2016, lot 330, to Kevin Conru, United States [invoice in curatorial files]; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2022.
Accession Number
267041
Medium
Wood and metal
Dimensions
D.: 64.5 cm (25 7/16 in.); DIMs of object on mount. : 42 × 8.9 × 64.8 cm (16 1/2 × 3 1/2 × 25 1/2 in.)
Classification
decorative arts
Credit Line
African Decorative Arts Fund