Calabash (Empukuri)

Label Text"Let's start with things that you'll find in Maasai houses. These are women's belongings. The first is a calabash with a leather strap used to hold the calabash when milking cattle, the larger calabash is for storing milk. I remember this because when I was a warrior, we would always come to our mothers' houses and this is the first thing we look for. Sometimes they are really big and so heavy that young warriors cannot actually lift them. We used to have a competition--who can lift the great calabash?" (Kakuta Hamisi, 2001)

Object number2000.8

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Art from Africa: Long Steps Never Broke a Back, Feb. 7 - May 19, 2002. [Exhibition traveled to Philadelphia Museum of Art, Wadsworth Atheneum, Cincinnati Art Museum, and Frist Center for Visual Arts, but object not included.]

Credit LineGeneral Acquisition Fund

Dimensions13 x 4 in. (33 x 10.2cm)

MediumGourd, leather, and beads