Palm Wine Cup (Mbwoongntey)
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Object Label
For centuries among the Kuba, personal status has been indicated through finely designed objects. Even ordinary utilitarian objects such as drinking cups for palm wine may indicate wealth and status through elegant carvings and decorations. Frequently, cups intended for use by rulers are carved in the form of a human head with a distinctive hairstyle associated only with royalty. Far more rare are cups such as this one, carved with full figures.
Caption
Kuba (Bushoong subgroup). Palm Wine Cup (Mbwoongntey), 19th century. Wood, 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 5 1/4 in. (21.6 x 11.4 x 13.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Arturo and Paul Peralta-Ramos, 56.6.37. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 56.6.37_threequarter_PS2.jpg)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Culture
Title
Palm Wine Cup (Mbwoongntey)
Date
19th century
Geography
Place made: Lulua Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Medium
Wood
Classification
Dimensions
8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 5 1/4 in. (21.6 x 11.4 x 13.3 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Arturo and Paul Peralta-Ramos
Accession Number
56.6.37
Rights
Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
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