Box, Lid, D88.190

Round - cylindrical metal (brass) container (box) with brass lid. Main body (sides) of container are one piece of fairly heavy (1mm thick) hammered 'sheet' metal bent into a ring/circle and soldered where the ends meet. The bottom is formed from a single round piece of hammered sheet metal, the edge of which has been hammered (bent) over around the complete circumference. The edge facing down, the bottom, has been inserted into the round main body and soldered on its circumference. The edges of the finished container (both top and bottom) show evidence of having been filed to present a uniform surface. The lid appears to be formed much like the bottom with edge bent over. Both lid and base have been hammered to form a slight dome - the convex surface of the base to the inside and the convex surface of the lid to the outside. The inside surface of both the lid and the container are smooth, i.e. undecorated. The outside surface (i.e. the wall) of the container, has a decoration of 4 loosely intertwined smooth bands running symetrically around the circumference - being formed by the negative spaces been 'pecked'. The lid has a the classic? design within the centre (a square with two interlinked 'links' -the ends of each link enclosing one side each of the square. ) A circle a ring encircles the centre design, to the outside edge lies two loosely twined 'bands' The designs are formed by 'pecking' the negative spaces around and within each. The outside base has 'pecked' into the smooth hammered surface the letters "AKINAMADU KANO", presumably being the name of the artist (AKIN AMADU or AKINAMADU) and the name of the locality (KANO - large city of Northern Nigeria).

Donated

Locality Nigeria