Aït Bouaddou or Aït Mendes
Bezzit or Merkala, Kabylie region, Algeria
Northern Africa and the Sahel
Couscous Platter
INV-1857
Aït Bouaddou or Aït Mendes
Bezzit or Merkala, Kabylie region, Algeria
Northern Africa and the SahelEarly/mid–20th century
Couscous Platter
Aït Bouaddou or Aït Mendes Bezzit or Merkala, Kabylie region, Algeria Northern Africa and the Sahel →ait bou addouArts of Africaait mendesafrican Artvesselterracotta (sculpture)
Date
Early/mid–20th century
Medium
Terracotta and pigment
Dimensions
45.1 × 45.1 × 7.7 cm (17 3/4 × 17 3/4 × 3 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Gift of Keith Achepohl
Female potters of the Aït Bouaddou and other Imazighen groups of Algeria’s mountainous Kabylie region embellish their ceramics for storing, preparing, and serving food with a variety of painted decorations. Drawing on a rich vocabulary of checkerboards, crosses, circles, and triangles, this boldly ornamented platter is enlivened with a symmetrical composition that develops outward from a central point.
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