Vintage Hima Milk Jug - Uganda

An almost perfect Hima milk jug (called Ebyanzi); there are no cracks.  A really fine specimen from Uganda.  This milk jug were used for keeping milk upon milking the cow. Often, as is the case of this jug, it was a measure of the amount of milk that a bride-to-be had to drink daily to fatten her up as the Bahima people demonstrated their wealth by the fatness of their daughters.  The jug is made our of the omusisa tree; carefully carving out the inside to hollow the core. After completing this process it would be soaked in the mud found in a shallow well for one week and then it was put in the soot or smoke of a lamp to blacken it to the desired color. Most of these jugs would split over time requiring a metal bandage of sorts so that it would not leak.

This one has a metal bandage on the base. 

Size: 19cmD x 23cmH