Wooden tureen
Origin: Cabinda, Kongo/ National Museum of Ethnology, NL
Date: ca. 1880
This wooden tureen forms part of an eighty-four-piece wooden service, including five tureens, twelve plates, twelve sets of knife, fork and spoon, a pair of salad servers, a carving knife and fork, two knife rests, three teacups and saucers, and two soup spoons.
The Kongolese wood carver copied the shape of the plates and dishes from European (Wedgwood) porcelain and added local, animal figures. The service has never been used, it is early airport art.
Effigy jaguar metate
Origin: Nicoya, Costa Rica / National Museum of Ethnology, NL
Date: between 11th and 15th century
A metate is used for grinding maize (tortilla, beer), seeds, dried chillipeppers or grains. This very old metate, made of volcanic-stone, has been excavated in Costa Rica. It has the shape of a jaguar, a symbol of power in pre-Columbian cultures of Middle- and South-America. This metate did not have a mano (grinding roller), suggesting that it had a ceremonial function with a deeper symbolic meaning.
Clove set
Oil-, soya- and vinager set, teacan, cup and saucer made of cloves
Origin: Moluccan islands /National Museum of Ethnology, NL
Date: ca. 1900
In colonial times, the Dutch East Indies Company (VOC) laid out clove plantations on the Moluccan Islands. Enormous profits were yielded by the Dutch with the world wide spice trade (pepper, nutmeg, clove).
Nowadays cloves are still cultivated at the Moluccans, primarily for the production of kretek (clove flavored cigarets).
This clove set was brought to the Netherlands as a souvenir..
Pot in the form of a shoe
Origin: New Mexico (Zuni)/National Museum of Ethnology, NL
Date: unknown
No one knows for certain why pots like these were made in a form of a shoe. One theory, often aired, is that Zuni-indians used them for heating food rapidly under high pressure. If this were the case, their points were shoved into the fire so that the heat could spread throughout the 'shoe'. The Zunis' pottery is of such high quality that it can be placed directly over or in the cooking fire without bursting. Over the course of the centuries Zuni potters have made pots in all kinds of shapes and sizes, specially for each kind of use. The decorations, usually in black or red over an underlayer of white slip, have all the symbolic meaning connected with the concept of fertility.
Rice cookies pan with charcoal stove
Origin: Thailand
Date: 2006
This clay pan has 12 holes, each covered by a small conic lid. In Thailand it is used for baking sweet or savoury khanom krok (rice cookies). Each hole and cover functions as a little oven. The cookies are baked by the heat of the charcoal in the stove.
Nowadays these pans are made of aluminium or cast iron, but in rural areas people still use pans like these made of clay.
Persian cook pot
Origin: Persian shop, Rotterdam
Date: 2006
This cook pot is made of soapstone. The pot can be put on the fire and is still used in Iran for making khoresht (stew). The advantage of cooking in soapstone is that the material keeps the heat for a long time and doesn’t absorb flavours.
Sago container
Origin: Mimika, West-Papua
Date: 2008
Kamoro Papuans in the Mimika region in West Papua (former Dutch New Guinea) are famous because of their woodcarvings. This container has the shape of a bird and is meant for keeping sago and (edible) grubs.
This container was brought to the Netherlands and sold by auction during the Kamoro festival in the National Museum of Ethnology.
Mug
Origin: Stoke-on-Trent/ Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (UK)
Date: ca. 1965
Winston Churchill mug, designed by E.T. Bailey for Burleigh Ware
Cast aluminium cooking pot
Origin: the Bukoki market of Niamey in Niger (West Sudan)/ National Museum of Ethnology, NL
Date: ca. 1990
Food warmer
Origin: Ethiopian shop, Rotterdam
Date: 2012
Black earthenware foodwarmer with plate
Tagine
Origin: fleemarket Carpentras, France
Date: 2011
Copper-studded earthenware cookpot of North- African origin
Toprak
Origin: shop, Haarlem (NL)
Date: 2006
Traditional clay cookpot from Anatolia
Cookpot
Origin: Morocco
Date: Unknown
