Couscous Platter

Female potters of the Aït Bouaddou and other Imazighen groups of Algeria’s mountainous Kabylie region embellish their ceramics for storing, preparing, and serving food with a variety of painted decorations. Drawing on a rich vocabulary of checkerboards, crosses, circles, and triangles, this boldly ornamented platter is enlivened with a symmetrical composition that develops outward from a central point.