Unidentified Kuba Artist
Date:
19th Century
Medium:
Wood
Size:
Depth: 4 3/4″
Width: 4 5/16″
Height: 7 1/4″

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 judgment, intelligence, wealth, and sophistication—qualities required to earn a title. This refined cup was commissioned 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.

Gift of Alan Wurtzburger BMA 1954.145.110

Picturing It In Use

Transcript

[Kathryn Wysocki Gunsch] Kuba culture doesn’t encourage drinking alone. The owner of the cup would’ve first set it out so that everyone could admire it, would pour palm wine in it, and then would take a sip and pass it around the circle of men gathering. So everyone did indeed get a chance to hold this beautiful vessel.