19th Century Tutsi Ceremonial Gourd

Details

Description

This calabash is also called the bottle gourd, and in addition to other names it is also the oldest known … Read more This calabash is also called the bottle gourd, and in addition to other names it is also the oldest known cultivated plant. Although technically a vegetable, it can be used to trace human migration because it has been carried to just about every part of the world by people using it like a bottle. This piece was crafted by the Tutsi people of Rwanda. More a social class than a tribal group, the Tutsi have been called an aristocracy composed of landowners, military leaders, chiefs and priests. Being Tutsi means you’re at the top of the social heap with all the fitting accouterments, including decorated gourds meant to hold palm wine. You can appreciate this piece by thinking Chateau Mouton-Rothschild 1945 with the emphasis on the bottle rather than the wine. Like its western counterpart, it had a reputation and real as well as symbolic value. See less