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Zulu meat tray (Ugqoko), South Africa
27" long
wood, pigment
mid 20th Century, definite signs of age and use
From the South African Collection of Pucker Gallery, Boston, MA
$1500
Inventory # SA612
An uncommon and wonderful example that consists of a bowl on each end with a tray in the middle. This meat
tray has an incredible patina and is visually interesting with the contrasting dark and light surfaces of the wood.
*Compare Alex Zaloumies’ Zulu Tribal Art, Cape Town, South Africa;274 -293, Africa: Art of a Continent; p224, as well as the example offered in
the Bonham's auction in New York from the Bohlen collection for comparable examples.
27" long
wood, pigment
mid 20th Century, definite signs of age and use
From the South African Collection of Pucker Gallery, Boston, MA
$1500
Inventory # SA612
An uncommon and wonderful example that consists of a bowl on each end with a tray in the middle. This meat
tray has an incredible patina and is visually interesting with the contrasting dark and light surfaces of the wood.
*Compare Alex Zaloumies’ Zulu Tribal Art, Cape Town, South Africa;274 -293, Africa: Art of a Continent; p224, as well as the example offered in
the Bonham's auction in New York from the Bohlen collection for comparable examples.
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.
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.
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