Among the Kabyle Berber cultures of northern Algeria, traditional handmade ceramics are a female artform. These vessels were developed to be primarily functional, for cooking, serving, and storing food, but they illustrate aesthetic sensibilities in their graceful, well-proportioned forms. The ceramics are also hand-painted with a variety of intricate geometric motifs and … [Read more...] about African Pottery: Researched by Mollie Williams
Decorative motifs on north African pottery may sometimes appear simple, but they are considered very important; in Algeria, for example, new members of a family, such as newlywed wives, are expected to adopt their in-law’s pottery styles. This vessel shows the importance of the painting decoration in the care taken to prepare the surface, which has been burnished to a shine … [Read more...] about Decorative Serving Pitcher: Researched by Olivia Smith
Berber vessels are distinctive in their use of locally sourced clays that the artisans dig, process, mature, and work by hand. Although this Berber vessel takes the same form as large, traditional Moroccan tagines used for cooking, this tagine is much too small to be used for cooking or serving meals. Instead, this covered vessel was made to mimic the shape of a tagine, but it … [Read more...] about Miniature Tagine for Holding Spices: Researched by Olivia Smith
This Algerian pouring vessel was created and decorated in the tradition of the Kabyle-Berber culture, and it was intended for use in the traditional storage and serving of drinking liquids. Like other Algerian pottery, the vessel was hand-thrown in red terracotta clay and then decorated with colored mineral slips using brushes of goat hair set into wet clay … [Read more...] about Algerian Pouring Vessel: Researched, Conserved, and Reconstructed by Sabrina Osment