Drinking tube

um 1900

About the object

The artistic zigzag pattern on the shaft of this lid or top of a drinking vessel is made from banana leaves. The split tip may possibly be meant to represent cow's horns. The object was brought to Freiburg by Wilhelm Winterer, son of the former Mayor of Freiburg Dr. Otto Winterer.
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The elegant, tubular object has been made from sun-bleached grass and contrasting black banana leaves woven into a zigzag pattern using a fine beaded partial-weave technique. To protect banana beer from insects and dust, conical woven lids or tops were placed over bulbous, long-necked calabashes. They were regarded as objects of prestige and are indicative of the importance of ritual communal drinking. The split configuration at the top is thought to represent cow's horns, which held great economic and symbolic significance for the Haya people. Its extremely slender appearance and length suggest that the piece was a commercial item. Wilhelm Winterer, son of the former mayor of Freiburg, Dr. Otto Winterer, collected it during his deployment in Tanzania as part of the Schutztruppe (»protection force«) in the German colonial empire (1907-1913).

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