Basket

Unknown

ca. 1900–1920 · Makenge root fiber, pigment · Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas

Featuring precise, balanced imagery, this basket is among the finest works woven by Lozi artisans for European missionaries during and immediately following the reign of Litunga (sovereign) Lubosi Lewanika (r. 1878–1916). Subjects of the Barotseland principality in western Zambia, the Lozi are renowned for the quality of their crafts. Celebrated among these are tightly coiled baskets woven by women to store precious commodities. Under Lewanika, the weaving industry greatly expanded in response to external demand. While earlier works produced for local consumption favored geometric patterns, the tastes of a Western clientele spurred the expansion of decorative repertoires to include zoomorphic designs, such as the quadruped and biped figures processing along the lid and body of this vessel.

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 1900–1920

Medium

Makenge root fiber, pigment

Culture

Lozi peoples

Department

Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas

Credit line

Purchase, Julie Jason, Ilona Eken, and Leila Laoun Gift, and William B. Goldstein, MD, Gift, 2021