Oil Jar
ca. 1966 - 1969 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
In 1950, the Nigerian government commissioned the British potter Michael Cardew to help develop local pottery-making. Cardew believed that traditional Nigerian earthenwares were perfectly adapted for their purposes and could not be improved upon, but he proposed the introduction of a centre where potters would be trained to make glazed stonewares for new markets. The Pottery Training Centre he founded at Abuja (present-day Suleja) supported new pottery enterprises, but its greater impact came through its manufacture of high-quality pots for local and overseas markets. These pots expressed, as Cardew saw it, an African sensibility using techniques developed in Europe and East Asia. Following Cardew's departure in 1965, the centre was run by Michael O'Brien.
This oil jar was bought at Abuja in the late 1960s by Michael and Dorothy Kirkbride, a British architect and painter respectively, who were then living and working in Nigeria.
This oil jar was bought at Abuja in the late 1960s by Michael and Dorothy Kirkbride, a British architect and painter respectively, who were then living and working in Nigeria.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Parts | This object consists of 2 parts.
|
| Materials and techniques | Stoneware, incised decoration through a dark brown glaze |
| Brief description | Oil jar with screw stopper, stoneware, by Bawa Ushafa at the Pottery Training Centre, Abuja, Nigeria, ca. 1966 - 1969 |
| Physical description | Oil jar, of stoneware. With a rounded form, narrow neck, strap handle, and screw-threaded stopper. The body an iron-rich dark stoneware. The jar is decorated with a dark brown glaze, with a horizontal panel of linear decoration incised through the glaze, exposing the body. A chip to the rim of the pot. |
| Dimensions |
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| Credit line | Given by Michael and Dorothy Kirkbride |
| Object history | The jar had been bought in Abuja by Kenneth Michael Kirkbride and his wife Dorothy Rees Jones. Kirkbride was an architect who worked in Nigeria around 1966-69 as an advisor to the National Universities Commission. Dorothy Rees Jones was an artist who, while in Nigeria, taught art history at a university. |
| Summary | In 1950, the Nigerian government commissioned the British potter Michael Cardew to help develop local pottery-making. Cardew believed that traditional Nigerian earthenwares were perfectly adapted for their purposes and could not be improved upon, but he proposed the introduction of a centre where potters would be trained to make glazed stonewares for new markets. The Pottery Training Centre he founded at Abuja (present-day Suleja) supported new pottery enterprises, but its greater impact came through its manufacture of high-quality pots for local and overseas markets. These pots expressed, as Cardew saw it, an African sensibility using techniques developed in Europe and East Asia. Following Cardew's departure in 1965, the centre was run by Michael O'Brien. This oil jar was bought at Abuja in the late 1960s by Michael and Dorothy Kirkbride, a British architect and painter respectively, who were then living and working in Nigeria. |
| Bibliographic reference | Michael Cardew. Pioneer Pottery. London and Harlow: Longmans, 1969. pl. 40. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | C.108:1,2-2011 |
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| Record created | January 9, 2012 |
| Record URL |
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