Artwork Page for Snuff Container

Details / Information for Snuff Container

Snuff Container

1800s-1900s

Africa, Southern Africa, Lesotho, South Sotho maker

Medium
Horn and wood
Measurements
Overall: 10.3 x 4 x 3.5 cm (4 1/16 x 1 9/16 x 1 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 2010.202
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
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Did You Know?

The tobacco product snuff was stored in decorative, yet useful, containers like this one.

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.
A polished, dark-brown horn and wood vessel depicts a stylized human figure. A wide, conical base tapers into a slender torso with two small, pointed protrusions projecting forward at the shoulders. The figure has an elongated neck with horizontal ridges and a small head with prominent circular ears. Simple facial features include small eyes, a raised nose, and a thin mouth. The head is flat on top, completing the vessel's smooth form.

Snuff Container

1800s-1900s

Africa, Southern Africa, Lesotho, South Sotho maker

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