Snuff container
date: label: Date
content: Mid-19th century
name: label: Maker
content: Nguni artist
notes: label: Label Text
content: Tobacco and snuff were carried by travelers to Africa as early as the sixteenth century as items of barter and gift giving. Especially in eastern and southern Africa, men and women still carry snuff containers made from a variety of materials, often decorative in nature. One common choice of container is the gourd, one of the earliest cultivated plants in Africa. Once the pulp has been removed and the skin has dried and hardened, it can be embellished in a variety of ways. The most colorful is with a netting of imported glass beads. This gourd container has been totally covered in small glass beads and hung as a pendant from strands of beads.
label: Description
content: Snuff container composed of a gourd covered in glass bead netting with bottom beaded fringe. The gourd hangs suspended from a glass bead necklace.
label: Provenance
content: Collected South Africa, 1865
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 Please note that some records are incomplete (missing image or content descriptions) and others reflect out-of-date language or systems of thought regarding how to engage with and discuss cultural heritage and the specifics of individual artworks.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: South Africa
topic: label: Topic
content: Adornment
label: Topic
content: Tobacco
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: 89-8-51
objectType: label: Type
content: Sculpture
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Gourd, glass beads
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D: 47.3 x 6.9 x 6.8 cm (18 5/8 x 2 11/16 x 2 11/16 in.)