Palm Wine Cup

Place of OriginDemocratic Republic of Congo

DateEarly 20th century

DimensionsH. 6 15/32 in. (16.4 cm); W: 3 3/4 in. (9.5 cm); Depth: 5 in. (12.7 cm); Max Diam (opening): 3 5/16 in. (8.4 cm); Max Diam (base): 3 3/8 in. (8.6 cm).

MediumCarved wood.

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Florence Scott Libbey Bequest in Memory of her Father, Maurice A. Scott

Object number

1991.55

Not on View

Label TextPalm wine plays an important social and ceremonial role in central African social life, around which discussions, conversations, and rituals take place. Kuba titleholders and high-ranking officials drank palm wine from carved wooden cups in the form of human heads. This cup, which was intended also as a display piece, reflects Kuba identity in the shaved hairline and in the scarification marks at the temples. The rich red tone comes from tool, camwood powder that Kuba people also apply to their own skin. Certain elements make this cup distinctive, such as the way the neckband becomes the handle and the rendering of the ears as concentric circles.Published References

The Toledo Museum of Art Annual Report, July 1, 1990 - June 30, 1991, Toledo, 1991, p. 12, repr. (col.).

Roberts, Mary Nooter, Facing Africa: The African Art Collection of the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, 1998, p. 35 and pp. 40-41, repr. (col.).

Exhibition History

Toledo Museum of Art, Student Curators Present: African Art, April 27-July 24, 2012 (Hitchcock Gallery).