For additional detail, click on any photo below to see the higher resolution version of the image.
|
Zulu meat tray (Ugqoko), South Africa
24" long
wood, pigment
mid 20th Century, definite signs of age and use
From the South African Collection of Pucker Gallery, Boston, MA
$1000
Inventory # SA193
The styles and sizes of meat platters, called ugqoko, are varied. Generally they consist of one large rectangular
bowl with rounded corners flanked on each end by handles. More uncommon examples consist of two round
bowls with a tray in the middle which it has been said to hold salt. Most have decorations carved into the
underside of the platter, the platters are often times placed upside down over another platter to act as a cover.
The platters were routinely smeared with the fat of ritually slaughtered animals which has been documented as
being associated with the idea of ancestral protection.