Click on the image to view a high resolution image.
To return to thumbnails, use your computer's "back" button.

Type:	other
Ethnic Group:	Chokwe
Country:	Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire)
ECU Number:	L0099-A
Description:	These two wood tobacco mortars are sculpted with crouching human figures. Tobacco, introduced to Africa in the sixteenth century, was ground in mortars to be taken as snuff or chewed. It was given as an offering to ancestors or as a gift to visitors and friends.
Significance researched to date:	Tobacco was introduced to Africa in the sixteenth century. Both men and women smoked pipes privately, but taking snuff was a festive public affair. Tobacco was ground finely in mortars and used as snuff or chewed. It was given as an offering to ancestors or as a gift to visitors and friends. The ground tobacco was kept in containers made of dried fruits or in small, hand-polished gourds decorated with metal wires. Tobacco pipes and mortars were displayed as prestige objects at state functions. This mortar is carved with a stylized crouching human figure.(Koloss, 54, Meyer, 165-166)