{"secondaryobjectnumber":null,"periodterms":[],"creditline":"Gift of Perry E. H. Smith, Class of 1957","caption":"Artist unrecorded, Kuba, Mushenge, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central Africa, Vessel, late 19th–20th century. Wood; 21.2 × 10.2 cm. Gift of Perry E. H. Smith, Class of 1957 (y1985-76)","cultureterms":[{"id":2041478,"culture":"African"},{"id":2042584,"culture":"Kuba (Democratic Republic of the Congo)"}],"type":"artobject","dimensionsproposed":"","terms":[{"id":2049610,"term":"textiles","aatid":300014063,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2072851,"term":"vessels (containers)","aatid":300193015,"termtype":"Classification"},{"id":2041478,"term":"African","aatid":300015647,"termtype":"Culture"},{"id":2042584,"term":"Kuba (Democratic Republic of the Congo)","aatid":300016310,"termtype":"Culture"},{"id":2159868,"term":"geometric patterns","aatid":300165213,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2151271,"term":"weaving","aatid":300053642,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2156347,"term":"carving","aatid":300053149,"termtype":"Techniques"},{"id":2045920,"term":"wood","aatid":300011914,"termtype":"Materials"}],"geography":[{"displaygeography":"Place made: Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mushenge","code":"Place made","continent":"Africa","subcontinent":"Central Africa","country":"Democratic Republic of the Congo","region":null,"state":null,"city":"Mushenge","county":null,"subregion":null,"locale":null,"locus":null,"river":"Kasai River","excavation":null,"geoname":"http://www.geonames.org/207952/mushenge.html","location":{"lat":"","lon":""}}],"dimensionelements":[{"element":"Overall","type":"Height","units":"centimeters","dimension":"21.20"},{"element":"Overall","type":"diam.","units":"centimeters","dimension":"10.20"}],"markings":null,"accessionyear":"1985-01-01","newaccession":0,"makers":[{"id":22875,"displayname":"Artist unrecorded","displaydate":null,"datebegin":0,"dateend":0,"prefix":null,"suffix":null,"role":"Artist","displaymaker":"Artist unrecorded","displayorder":1}],"datecomputed":1922,"signed":null,"restrictions":null,"classification":"Vessels","packages":[{"packageid":278831,"name":"10282025-DAY1-ONVIEW"},{"packageid":197269,"name":"web_highlights -revised 2021"},{"packageid":223066,"name":"Gallery_31_African"},{"packageid":181965,"name":"web_2020_African"},{"packageid":142974,"name":"web_african_holding_culture"},{"packageid":3727,"name":"web_afr_2013"}],"catalograisonne":null,"classifications":[{"id":2072851,"classification":"vessels (containers)"}],"exhibitions":[],"cultures":[{"id":15590,"culture":"Kuba","alphasort":"Kuba","begindate":0,"enddate":0,"displayculture":"Kuba","displaydate":null}],"primaryimage":["https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/PUAMANX25_250501_21275"],"displaytitle":"Vessel","displayculture":"Kuba","displaymaker":"Artist unrecorded","captionhtml":"Artist unrecorded, Kuba, Mushenge, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central Africa, <i>Vessel</i>, late 19th–20th century. Wood; 21.2 × 10.2 cm. Gift of Perry E. H. Smith, Class of 1957 (y1985-76)","displaydate":"late 19th–20th century","medium":"Wood","media":[{"id":262524,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/PUAMANX25_250501_21275","isprimary":1,"rank":1,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"PUAM Photo"},{"id":262525,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/PUAMANX25_250501_21277","isprimary":0,"rank":2,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"PUAM Photo"},{"id":262526,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/PUAMANX25_250501_21278","isprimary":0,"rank":3,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"PUAM Photo"},{"id":262527,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/PUAMANX25_250501_21279","isprimary":0,"rank":4,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"PUAM Photo"},{"id":262528,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/PUAMANX25_250501_21280","isprimary":0,"rank":5,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"PUAM Photo"},{"id":262529,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/PUAMANX25_250501_21281","isprimary":0,"rank":6,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"PUAM Photo"}],"displayperiod":null,"extended_content":false,"campuscollections":"false","bibliography":[{"boilertext":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections </i>(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013)","citation":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections </i>(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013), p. 165","date":2013,"id":1994,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/865020505"},{"boilertext":"\"Selected checklist of objects in the collection of African art,\" <em>Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University</em> 58, no. 1/2 (1999): p. 77–83.","citation":"\"Selected checklist of objects in the collection of African art,\" <em>Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University</em> 58, no. 1/2 (1999): p. 77–83., p. 80","date":1999,"id":3043,"uri":"https://www.jstor.org/stable/3774794"},{"boilertext":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection</i> (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007)","citation":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection</i> (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), p. 162 (illus.)","date":2007,"id":474,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/191864564"},{"boilertext":"\"Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1985,\" <i>Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University</i> 45, no. 1 (1986): p.16–42","citation":"\"Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1985,\" <i>Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University</i> 45, no. 1 (1986): p.16–42, p. 42 (illus.)","date":1986,"id":521,"uri":"https://www.jstor.org/stable/3774653"}],"nowebuse":"False","periods":[],"department":"African and Oceanic Art","attribute_groups":[{"id":2199315,"term":"African Art","termtype":"Collecting Area"}],"daterange":"A.D. 1900-1945","dateend":1975,"depicted":[],"titles":[{"title":"Vessel","titletype":"Published","displayorder":1}],"hasimage":"true","creditlinerepro":"","objectnumber":"y1985-76","inscribed":null,"texts":[{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Provenance","textentryhtml":"Purchased by Perry E.H. Smith (1936?-2019), Zaire (present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo) between 1971 and circa 1975; donated to the Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ, 1985.","remarks":"Revised by Perrin Lathrop, 3/20/2025"},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Handbook Entry","textentryhtml":"\r\nKuba artists, including those of the Shoowa &shy;peoples, are known for their use of intricate geometric designs and unusual shapes. Boxes and vessels, such as the examples shown here, as well as cups, pipes, knives, and other domestic items, are carved with rich surface decorations in low relief. Each surface on the square box is carved in a different pattern to increase the work’s visual interest from many angles. Such intermingling of motifs is typical of Shoowa decoration. Atop the box is a carved weevil, or <I>ntshyeem</I>, an insect symbolically associated with the enduring powers of the king. The round box has a squared lid that incorporates an octagonal pattern to draw the viewer’s eye. The wooden boxes, created for personal prestige, would have contained razors, beads, costume elements, or twool, a red cosmetic powder obtained at great expense. Carved to give a sense of depth, the vessel or goblet displays an ornate surface overlaid with a repeating pattern of intertwined bands. The design reflects traditional Kuba textile patterns found on raffia pile and bark cloths. </P></SPAN>","remarks":"see also y1953-149 a-b and 1998-558 a-b"},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Gallery Label","textentryhtml":"After graduating from Princeton University in 1957, Perry E. H. Smith lived in Italy, India, Algeria, Madagascar, and Democratic Republic of the Congo. Smith worked for international aid organizations that supported education, reforestation, and food and medicine distribution in new African nations grappling with colonial legacies of underinvestment in infrastructure. His work in Congo in the early 1970s relied on existing missionary networks, many of which had been complicit in the eradication of traditional religious practices and the removal of cultural heritage from communities. Through these missionaries, Smith gained access to collections of historical art assembled over decades. He began to collect art from the missions, as well as from public markets and traders. Smith later donated over one hundred works from Congo to this Museum, including masquerade headdresses, personal adornments made of ivory, and delicately carved everyday objects—some of which are on view in this gallery.\n","remarks":"AFR_31_WLA.pdf - Day 1 installation"}],"datebegin":1870,"sortnumber":"1985   76y","published_date":"2026-02-11 10:32:14.340063","objectid":32921,"dimensions":"h. 21.2 × diam. 10.2 cm (8 3/8 × 4 in.)","on_view":true}