Couscous Platter
Aït bou Addou
1900–1975
- Medium
- Terracotta and pigment
- Dimensions
- 45.1 × 45.1 × 7.7 cm (17 3/4 × 17 3/4 × 3 in.)
- Genre
- vessel
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago
Styles
Tags
modeling (forming)ait bou addouvesselterracotta (sculpture)painting (image making)geometricceramicsNorthern Africa and the Sahelfeastafrican Artarts of Africaservingwarefoodvessel for serving foodceramicpigmentterracottaait mendes
About
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.