Mouse Divination Vessel
date: label: Accession Date
content: 3 Apr 2018
name: label: Donor Name
content: Edith and Hans Wyss
notes: label: Notes
content: Mouse divination vessel from Baule or Guro, Cote d'Ivoire, early 20th century. It consists of a wood pot, domed terracotta lid, and a strip-woven strap. The shoulder of the vessel is covered in hide. The string around the neck has a cluster of three duiker antelope horns holding unseen ingredients capped with carefully woven fiber and a bundle of intact millet stalks. A separate insert of copper alloy sheet of ovoid shape, bent and pierced, with six movable slender dangels of rolled metal rods, each of two parts interspersed with white beads. The pot is divided in two with a hole in the top tier above a hollowed base where the diviner places the insert with movable rods with grain on the top tier. A mouse is placed in the top tier and when the lid is removed, it moves to the lower chamber. The diviner removes and reads the placement of the rods moved by the mouse.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 15 Oct 2023
label: Specimen Count
content: 3
place: label: Place
content: Côte d'Ivoire, Africa
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Baule (Baoulé)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 2077561
label: USNM Number
content: E435522-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Divination Box
physicalDescription: label: Height - Vessel
content: 19 cm
label: Diameter - Vessel
content: 16 cm
label: Diameter - Cover
content: 11.5 cm
label: Height - Cover
content: 5 cm
label: Length - Metal Piece
content: 9 cm
label: Width - Metal Piece
content: 7 cm
label: Depth - Metal Piece
content: 3 cm