Kuba
Figurative Palm Wine Cup
Kuba, 1800-1899
Scroll
Kuba
Figurative Palm Wine Cup
Kuba, 1800-1899
Physical Qualities
Wood, 7 1/4 x 4 5/16 x 4 3/4 in. (18.4 x 11 x 12 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Alan Wurtzburger
Object Number
1954.145.110
Taste matters. In the Kuba kingdom, men were not born into high rank at court. They had to prove their merit before being appointed courtiers. Acquiring and displaying fine art was one way to prove the owner's good judgement, intelligence, wealth, and sophistication--qualities required to earn a title.
This refined cup was commisioned by an ambitious and cultured man to present palm wine to guests. It would have been passed around the circle to each man present. The woman's cultivated hairline and the pronounced shape of her head indicate her noble status.
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The Baltimore Sun on the web. Advertisement for "Hand Held: Personal Arts from Africa". December 30, 2011. http://findlocal.baltimoresun.com/listings/hand-held-personal-arts-from-africa-baltimore
University of Wisconsin Alumni Association. Event Flyer. "Hand Held: Personal Arts from Africa" tour followed by reception. Sunday, January 22, 2012: color image on flyer.
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Celenko, Theodore, "A Treasury of African Art from the Harrison Eiteljorg Collection," Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1983, no. 187.
Cornet, Joseph, "A Survey of Zairian Art: the Bronson Collection," Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1978, p. 220.
Einstein, Carl, "Negerplastik," München: K. Wolff, 1920, ill. 5.
Fry, Jacqueline, "The Art and Peoples of Black Africa," New York: Dutton, 1974, ill. 135.
Glaze, Anita J. and Alfred L. Scheinberg, Discoveries: African Art from the Smiley Collection, [Urbana-Champaign]: Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1989, p 73.
Griaule, Marcel, "Folk Art of Black Africa," New York: Tudor, 1950, cat. no. 64.
Koloss, Hans-Joachim, "Art of Central Africa: Masterpieces from the Berlin Museum für Völkerkunde," New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1990, p.48.
Leuzinger, Elsy, "The Art of Black Africa," Greenwich, CT: New York Graphic Society, 1972, cat. no. v18.
Neyt, Francois, "Traditional Arts and History of Zaïre: Forest Cultures and Kingdoms of the Savannah (Arts Traditionnels et Histoire au Zaïre: Cultures Forestières et Royaumes de la Savane,)" Bruxelles: Société d'arts Primitifs, 1981, p.171.
Robbins, Warren M. & Nancy Ingram Nooter, "African Art in American Collections: Survey 1989," Washington, DC & London: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989, cat. nos. 1092, 1094.
Roberts, Mary Nooter, "Facing Africa: the AFrican Art Collection of the Toledo Museum of Art," Toledo, OH:
Ross, Doran, Ed., "Visions of Africa: The Jerome L. Joss Collection of African Art at UCLA," Los Angeles: Fowler Museum of Cultural History, UCLA, 1994, pp. 124-5.
Segy, Ladislas, "African Sculpture Speaks," New York: Hill and Wang, 1952, ill. 71.
Sieber, Roy and Roslyn Walker, "African Art in the Cycle of Life," Washington, DC: Published for the National Museum of African Art by the Smithsonian Press, c1987, p.108.
Sotheby's, "Pre-Columbian, American Indian, African and Oceanic Art," New York: Sotheby Parke Bernet, December 13, 1975, cat. no.192.
Sotheby's, "American Indian, African, and Oceanic Art," New York: Sotheby Parke Bernet, April 29-30, 1983, cat. nos. 57, 58.
Sotheby's, "Important Tribal Art," London: Sotheby's, July 3, 1989, no. cat. 164.
Sotheby's, "Important Tribal Art," New York: Sotheby Parke Bernet, November 20, 1991, sale #6243, cat. no. 114.
Sotheby's, "The Alexander S. Honig Collection of African Art," New York: Sotheby Parke Bernet, May 18, 1993, sales #6422, cat. no. 177.
Sotheby's, "Tribal Art," New York: Sotheby's, May 6, 1994, cat. no. 181.
Sotheby's "Importante Vente d'Art Africain, Collection A. et J.P. Jernander," Drouut-Richelieu, June 26, 1996, cat. nos. 19-21.
Sotheby's, "Important Tribal Art,' New York: Sotheby's, November 21, 1996, sales #6920, cat. no. 148.
Sotheby's, "African and Oceanic Art," New York: Sotheby's, May 6, 1998, sale #7129, cat. no. 253.
Sotheby's, "Property from the Foundation Dr. Edmund Muller," New York: Sotheby's, November 22, 1998, sale #7226, cat. no. 104.
Sotheby's, "Arts of Africa, Oceania & the Americas," New York: Sotheby's, May 17, 2002, cat. no. 127.
Szalay, Miklos, "Afrikanische Kunst aus der Sammlung Han Coray, 1916-1928," Munich: Prestel, 1995, pp. 166-68
Verswijver, Gustaaf, Ed., "Masterpieces from Central Africa: the Tervuren Museum," New York: Prestel, 1996, pp. 170-173.
Vogel, Susan, Ed., "For Spirits and Kings: African Art from the Tishman Collection," New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1981, pp. 231-2.
Vogel, Susan and Francine N'Diaye, "African Masterpieces from the Musee de L'Homme," New York: The Center for African Art, 1985, pp. 155-6.
Vogel, Susan, "Art/Artifact: African Art in Anthropology Collections," New York: The Center for African Art, 1988, pp. 122-3.
On View at the BMA
