The type of wood and pokerwork identifies this extraordinary lidded vessel as coming from Lesotho. Rev. Eugene Casalis, the Protestant missionary, wrote in 1869 about the type of carving that was being done in Basutoland, now Lesotho. “ We may see……a man who seems to notice nothing that is passing by around him, so intently is he studying the growing proportions of a block of willow wood, which he is cutting with a little hatchet…When the piece has achieved the desired form, he will hollow out the interior with a javelin, and with a red hot iron will ornament the borders with black spiral or diamond shapes in a most regular manner.” This vessel has an attached base and carrying lugs.
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