Kaliña Terracotta Pitcher

Kaliña peoples, c. 17th to 19th century, Para District, Suriname.

Lovely small-sized terracotta pitcher. Among the Kali'na women the main domestic art is the pottery making. While this art has been influenced by the newcomers it still shows that the natives had brought it to a high stage of development before the arrival of the Europeans. The pottery vary in size from large vessels over two feet in diameter to extremely small and elegantly made artefacts. In making a pottery a piece of clay is pressed into shape to serve as the bottom and on this many very thin coils are built up and the whole finally carefully smoothed inside and out with a pebble or preferably an old stone ax head. After drying for a short time the vessel is painted. It may simply be slip painted with red paint and burnt over an open fire, or it may have been made of clay mixed with burned kwepi bark. In the latter case the vessel burns to a warm reddish yellow color. Designs are painted on and it is again burnt. Three colors are used; a red vegetable paint (ruku), white clay (pimbi doti) and a black paint (taporipa). 

Terracotta pitcher with flaring rim and simple loop handle. Slip painted with broad red bands and narrow black or brown irregular line decoration. Moderate condition. Intact. Age-related heavy wear, chip and abrasion. Lovely patina. Size approx. 11,7cm x 9,4cm x 9,4cm.