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.

Provenance

Steven Alpert, Dallas, TX (2005); (Jacaranda Tribal Art Gallery, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) (2010); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (2010–)

Snuff Container

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1800s-1900s

Accession Number

2010.202

Medium

Horn and wood

Dimensions

Overall: 10.3 x 4 x 3.5 cm (4 1/16 x 1 9/16 x 1 3/8 in.)

Classification

Vessels

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund