Beer straw
date: label: Date
content: Late 19th century
name: label: Maker
content: Ganda artist
notes: label: Label Text
content: It is the custom among several peoples in Uganda to drink beer through long straws made of soft wood. The tubes are usually partially covered in finely woven raffia with a woven filter at the bottom. This straw is also wrapped in fine copper wire.
label: Description
content: Straw with a reed shaft surrounded by vegetable fibers and secured by a copper alloy piece 1 7/8 inches from the top (mouthpiece). The upper 4 inches curves at approximately 30 degrees. The last 3/4 inches consists of much more loosely woven fibers which form a bulb shape, probably functioning as a filter. Under the reed mouthpiece what appears to be two fibers are wrapped around the base. The preceding 8 1/8 inches consists of a singular decorative pattern. This design has a series of thin brownish fibers encircling the shaft. Running perpendicular to these are various alternating colored fibers (each 3 strands wide). The remainder of the straw consists of another decorative series. It alternates a dark brown band followed by a longer pattern of yellow/tan then orange/brown stripes. There are five of this pattern that are complete and the last one is only 1/4 as long. The filter portion at the bottom is composed of brown and orange vertical fibers woven loosely with lighter fibers woven over these and around the shaft.
label: Provenance
content: Collected Uganda, 1882
label: Provenance
content: Michael Graham-Stewart, London, -- to 1989
label: Exhibition History
content: Art of the Personal Object, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., September 24, 1991-April 9, 2007
label: Content Statement
content: As part of our commitment to accessibility and transparency, the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art is placing its collection records online. Please note that some records are incomplete (missing image or content descriptions) and others reflect out-of-date language or systems of thought regarding how to engage with and discuss cultural heritage and the specifics of individual artworks. If you see content requiring immediate action, we will do our best to address it in a timely manner. Please email nmafacuratorial@si.edu if you have any questions.
label: Image Requests
content: High resolution digital images are not available for some objects. For publication quality photography and permissions, please contact the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives at https://africa.si.edu/research/eliot-elisofon-photographic-archives/
place: label: Geography
content: Uganda
topic: label: Topic
content: Household
label: Topic
content: male
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African Art Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Acquisition grant from the James Smithson Society
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African Art
identifier: label: Object number
content: 89-8-34
objectType: label: Type
content: Sculpture
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Plant fiber, reed, copper alloy
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D: 61 x 1.6 x 6.4 cm (24 x 5/8 x 2 1/2 in.)