Grand Vestibule: The British Monarchy and the World
The Grand Vestibule at Windsor Castle reflects interaction between the monarchy and the wider world
CLIVE SITHOLE (B.1971)
Vase
2000RCIN 94660
A large black earthenware pot created from a coil, burnished, pit-fired and smoked, with a bulbous body and raised neck and decorated with raised and incised geometric designs with protruding cattle heads in Zulu amansumpa style. The pot is polished with animal fat and finished using a pebble with soot and leaf-ash.
Amansumpa (literally 'warts') is a traditional Zulu decorative technique consisting of raised warts of clay on the surface of the pot. The protrusions often form repeated circular or square stud patterns. Here, however, Sithole has represented cattle, which are a recurring feature of his work. He deliberately depicts bulls, which are a symbol of Zulu masculinity, as a counterpoint to the feminine nature of the pot. Until the late twentieth century, pots of this kind were made exclusively by women.
Amansumpa (literally 'warts') is a traditional Zulu decorative technique consisting of raised warts of clay on the surface of the pot. The protrusions often form repeated circular or square stud patterns. Here, however, Sithole has represented cattle, which are a recurring feature of his work. He deliberately depicts bulls, which are a symbol of Zulu masculinity, as a counterpoint to the feminine nature of the pot. Until the late twentieth century, pots of this kind were made exclusively by women.
