Lobi Terracotta Lidded Altar Vessel

Lobi people, early to mid. 20th century, Burkina Faso, West Africa

Magnificent and finely hand-built terracotta altar vessel, crafted by a Lobi woman potter, presenting a beautifully rounded body, corseted neck, flaring rim, and its original sturdy lid. The exterior is meticulously impressed with delicate arcs, triangles, and linear bands. Vessels of this type were placed on domestic altars dedicated to protective spirits (thil), where they held water or potent medicinal substances used to safeguard the household from misfortune, illness, and witchcraft. The presence of a lid—absent on utilitarian vessels—served to shield the contents from spiritual and physical impurities and was believed to prevent wandering ancestral souls from contaminating the sacred water.

Traditional Lobi pottery is entirely hand-formed without the use of a wheel, beginning with a mass of clay that is shaped and expanded, followed by added coils that are smoothed into elegant walls. After drying, vessels are fired in open-air hearths fueled by firewood. Only post-menopausal women were permitted to create altar vessels, as younger potters risked spiritual consequences for working with ritual pottery. The Lobi people inhabit Burkina Faso with communities extending into Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, forming a closely related cultural cluster renowned for their powerful ritual arts.

Good condition. Expected chips, nicks, stable fissure, abrasions, and softening of detail, all commensurate with age and use. Lovely patina. Size approx. 19,5cm x 15,5cm x 15,5cm.

Provenance: Dutch private collection

For a similar example see:

Globular Vessel, The Brooklyn Museum, Accession Number: 1994.181.2 (https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/153411)

References and further reading:

Ceramics and Brass of the Lobi in Burkina Faso, Klaus Schneider, In Karl-Ferdinand Schaedler, Earth and Ore: 2500 Years of African Art in Terracotta and Metal, 11–115. Munich: Panterra, 1990.

Occult Conversations, or How the Thila Make the Law for the Lobi, Claude-Henri Pirat, Arts d'Afrique,Voir l'Invisible, Musée d'Aquitaine, Bordeaux, Hazan, Paris, 2011, p. 85-91. and p. 217-220.

For Hearth and Altar: African Ceramics from the Keith Achepohl Collection, Kathleen Bickford Berzock, Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 2005.

Lobi Traditional Art/L'art Traditionnel Lobi, Giovanni Franco Scanzi, Published by Abidjan, 1993.