Akan Peoples, Asante Group, Ghana

This vessel, called a kuduo, represents centuries of cultural and religious interaction and synthesis in the region that is now Ghana. Kuduos, which were used in a wide variety of ritual contexts by Akan peoples until the early 20th century, have antecedents in Islamic basins that were imported into the region in the 14th and 15th centuries from Egypt and the Near East.

This excellent precolonial example could be locked and was made for storing precious items, such as gold dust, gold weights, beads, and pendants. Since both gold weights and kuduo were associated with a person’s soul, they were buried together with the deceased.

The geometric, seemingly decorative motifs arranged in horizontal bands around the surface of the vessel derive from the earliest documented Islamic basins, which were covered with Arabic script. Complementing the Islamic influence, a characteristically Akan motif surmounts the kuduo’s lid—a leopard attacks a horned animal, probably an antelope. Such scenes almost always refer to Akan verbal proverbs, and may contain a positive message about ruthless power.

Copper alloy, cast and raised, 18th to 19th century
Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey, 1994.23