Images(2)

Beer Vessel (ukhamba)

Artist Ziwe Mghozi

DateMid–late 20th century

MediumEarthenware

DimensionsHeight: 7 1/2 in. (19.1 cm)
Diameter (mouth): 4 9/16 in. (11.6 cm)

ClassificationsCeramics

Credit LineGift of Julianna Simmons

Object number2017.20.12

On View

Not on view

Label TextLow-alcohol, sorghum beer was historically a key part of Southern African nutrition and continues to be used as an offering for ancestors and an expression of hospitality during gatherings. Utilitarian earthenware pots are created for brewing and serving beer. Many families maintain a small altar, or umsamo, a space for presenting beer and meat to ancestors. The earthenware pots are drunk from at funerals, weddings, coming-of-age ceremonies, and other transitional life events. A smaller vessel, an ukhamba, is passed from person to person. A larger iphangela may hold beer for a group and is drunk from with a ladle or cup.

These pots feature a range of geometric patterns created by incised, impressed, and raised-bump techniques. Pots from Zulu-speaking regions are traditionally blackened, a quality that ties them conceptually to ancestors, spirits who prefer dark spaces. The two from the Mphise area (left) also include small amasumpa bumps expertly applied to the vessel surfaces. These bumps are an iconic feature of Zulu ceramics. Today pots destined for markets and not used for spiritual presentations are produced in a range of browns or black.
[December 2020 Rotations, A. Maples]ProvenanceCollected by David Roberts (dealer), South Africa, 2003; sold to William B. Simmons, New York, NY, 2013; given to daughter Julianna Simmons, n.d.; given to NCMA, 2017.
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