This small, zoomorphic snuff container takes the form of a sheep, standing rotund and heavy on short, pointed legs. Sometimes in the shape of a domestic animal, and, less frequently, as geometric forms, this type of snuff container was created through an additive process rather than the reductive process of carving. Using the blood and tissue left over after cleaning and scraping a fresh animal skin, this residue was mixed with ochre or powdered clay to make a stiff paste. Spread over a pre-prepared clay model of the desired shape, it was left in the sun to dry. Further modelling such as the shaping of ears, tails, horns, etc., was done when the surface was nearly dried, with an awl used to prick up a rough nap to give the illusion of a hairy coat. When completely dry, a round hole was cut into the outer skin through which the dry clay base was removed. This became the opening for the snuff container and a small stopper was fashioned to close it, securing the contents. Sometimes decorated with beadwork, these boxes were carried in a bag or hung from the waistband by a short thong.

Shaw and Van Warmelo write that the Fingo, Xhosa, Thembu and Mpondo used this technique for making snuff containers up until the end of the 19th century. An example described by Shaw located it to the former Transkei region. One in the Amathole Museum, King Williamstown decorated with beads around its neck and on its stopper, which also serves as the nose of the animal, was collected prior to 1920, and is provenanced as ‘Mpondo,’ a group living within the borders of the Eastern Cape (previous Transkei) just south of KwaZulu-Natal. It seems that snuff containers such as these have a localized region of origin in the previous regions of the Transkei and Ciskei, now the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.

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