CHOKWE, ANGOLA

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This beautifully designed snuff container, which doubles as a tobacco mortar, shows brilliant workmanship and a warm, sumptuous patina. Finely incised lines and hatching surround a wide central face with almond-shaped eyes and a prominent brow. Its features gently indent the surface in a subtle relief effect. A cylindrical stopper is tethered to the body of the mortar by a leather strip and lug. Shiny brass tacks are utilized as decorative accents. During the nineteenth century, tacks of this kind were obtained through trade with European merchants and were quite costly in Chokwe communities. Thus they were associated with affluence and high social rank, and were often used liberally when incorporated into a design.

Tobacco had a similar connection to status in Chokwe culture, and was reserved for elders and for men and women of privilege. Smoking tobacco and inhaling it as snuff was both a ritual and social practice among many peoples of sub-Saharan Africa. In Chokwe society, tobacco was used on ceremonial occasions to facilitate communication between revered ancestors, guardian spirits, and the living community. In these complex and sometimes overlapping contexts, tobacco paraphernalia carried layers of meaning that made them precious and symbolically charged objects.