Baganda Terra Cotta Vessel

Water, beer, cooking, storage. Baganda potters were never short of work.

Their wares are known for smooth, well-balanced profiles and finely worked surface patterning. This large terra cotta vessel from Uganda, made in the 20th century, is twenty inches across and seventeen tall. It has a wide mouth, a full rounded shoulder, and a body that narrows toward a small base. The surface is rouletted with fine diagonal texture, divided by incised bands and a row of scalloped arcs, and washed in alternating zones of orange-red slip and pale buff clay.

The interior is darker and roughened from use. A pot that has worked for its living.