Figure supporting bowl
Before entering royal residences, visitors might be required to dip into this bowl to obtain kaolin. A fine white clay with important medicinal properties, kaolin also signified loyalty, purity, and ritual respect for the spirit world. It was spread on visitors' arms and faces and on the ground before the king. The woman who supports the bowl is lean and capable, seemingly ready to vault from her spring-like legs to assist her ruler.
Wood
19 1/2 x 12 3/4 x 10 in. (49.5 x 32.4 x 25.4 cm)
Gift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company
81.17.875
Provenance: [Berkeley Galleries, London, England]; purchased from gallery by Katherine White (1929-1980), Seattle, Washington, 1971; bequeathed to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 1981
Photo: Paul Macapia