Storage Container

Burkina Faso is home to some of the most prolific and vital pottery traditions of the African continent, and large, handsomely formed storage containers are among the region’s hallmarks. This plump, double-tiered container was collected in Dedugou, a town in the Bwa region, but its style and iconography are more closely related to Nuna pottery from an area just southeast of the Bwa. The rough texture of the pot’s rouletted lower half sets off the smoothly burnished upper part, with its applied motifs of chameleons, arrow-shaped patterns, and vertical and horizontal lines. Among the Nuna, chameleons are a symbol of change, magical transformation, and human fertility, while the arrow motif may represent women. Themes of regeneration and fecundity are familiar ones for storage containers throughout the region.