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Snuff Container, from The Cleveland Museum of Art
The Cleveland Museum of Art · Open Access · Reuse terms

Africa, Southern Africa, South Africa, Zimbabwe or Mozambique, Northern Nguni-style or Shona-style m / 1800s–1900s

Snuff Container

Snuff Container

The Cleveland Museum of Art catalogs Snuff Container as vessels (Africa, Southern Africa, South Africa, Zimbabwe or Mozambique, Northern Nguni-style or Shona-style m · 1800s–1900s).

WHY IT’S INTERESTING

The snuff and tobacco held in this container were believed to enable communication between humans and ancestors.

SERENDIPITYA little unexpected
FamiliarWeird

A CLOSER LOOK

The museum identifies this vessels as Gourd and copper alloy.

The museum's collection notes: 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.

FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE

The Cleveland Museum of ArtSnuff Container

Original explanation based on the sources above. Images carry their own reuse terms.