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Drinking Container
Kuba (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Probably late 19th century
- Medium
- Wood, copper alloy, and iron
- Classification
- Vessel
- Dimensions
- 30.5 × 7.7 × 45.8 cm (12 × 3 × 18 in.)
- Culture
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Arts of Africa
- Credit line
- Gift of George F. Harding
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its subject is for older viewers (war, death, the Passion, drink or the like). How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
Drinking horns and cups are among the many insignia that have denoted status in the highly hierarchical Kuba society since the kingdom’s foundation in the 17th century. This wooden sculpture—decorated with raised geometric and figural designs—imitates the horn of a buffalo, an animal that stands for the powerful, untamed wilderness and is therefore associated with both rulers and warriors.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
