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1996.21.36

Gourd vessel. Possibly a very large ladle. Made of one half of a gourd which has been sliced in half longitudinally. The outside of the gourd is decorated with blackened incised lines in a geometrical design. These lines are pyroengraved.

1996.21.36

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Collection type
Object
Description
Gourd vessel. Possibly a very large ladle. Made of one half of a gourd which has been sliced in half longitudinally. The outside of the gourd is decorated with blackened incised lines in a geometrical design. These lines are pyroengraved.
Person
Field collector Phoebe Somers
PRM source Juliet Pannett
Date / Period
Date made: Before 1960
Date collected
Circa 1960?
Acquisition information
Donated: 15/03/1996
Materials and processes
Material Pigment, Material Gourd Plant, Process Perforated, Process Incised, Process Burnt, Process Pyroengraved Pokerwork
Dimensions
Length: max 205 mm, Diameter: max 165 mm
Object numbers
Accession number: 1996.21.36
Research and responses

In 2020 the Pitt Rivers Museum was a partner in the project lead by the Horniman Museum 'Rethinking Relationships and Building Trust around African Collections' The project commissioned community researchers from Africa to develop new practice around Kenyan and Nigerian collections at the Horniman, the Pitt Rivers Museum, the Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and the World Museum in Liverpool. These comments are from community researcher Njeri Gachihi: "The object is known amongst the Agikuyu as Kiihuri/kiuga. Depending on its size, it was used as a cup, bowl, plate or tray for eating, drinking, serving or storing food, porridge, milk or cereals. When I was growing up, my grandmother had several such objects that were used as food vessels. Today, it is still a popular item in local hotels and in traditional Agikuyu, ceremony for serving traditional porridge. The incised geometrical lines on the outside are for aesthetic and identification purposes. The identification of this as a spoon is also not farfetched because the object also acts as a serving spoon for food and drinks such as soup and porridge.

The object is sourced from a crop plant in the family Cucurbitaceae. This kind of gourd is made from cutting the fruit of plant in to two, removing the seeds, incising some lines on the outside, then leaving the hollow shell to dry-out. When fully dehydrated, the shell becomes hard.." [FB 5/1/2021]

Search terms: Vessel, Food and Drink, Spoon, Food Accessory

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