Snuff container

Nguni artist · Mid-19th century

Tobacco and snuff were carried by travelers to Africa as early as the sixteenth century as items of barter and gift giving. Especially in eastern and southern Africa, men and women still carry snuff containers made from a variety of materials, often decorative in nature. One common choice of container is the gourd, one of the earliest cultivated plants in Africa. Once the pulp has been removed and the skin has dried and hardened, it can be embellished in a variety of ways. The most colorful is with a netting of imported glass beads. This gourd container has been totally covered in small glass beads and hung as a pendant from strands of beads.