Extremely rare! Very old oracle pot, BEMBE, DR Congo, ca 1920

Oracle pot of the Bembe from DR Congo. On the wooden pot the cosmogram about life and death is depicted with white dots. The objects inside the pot are full of symbolism. At the bottom a mixture of earth and tukula covered with a piece of snakeskin. The snake communicates with the medium and is the messenger. The pot contains, among other things, a ball and a hoof of an antelope that lives in the jungle. (blue duiker is the name in English) The pot is also equipped with elephant hair, oyster shell and a cauri shell covered with tukula powder. The piece of wood with dots represents the person being called. The Bembe statue represents the questioning person. The oracle pot has a piece of cloth from the shroud of an ancestor at the bottom. The discoloration on the edge of the pot is caused by heating.

The pot can be dated to around 1920 and comes from the collection of the Wouters family from St. Trond in Belgium. Oracle pots come in different shapes such as a gourd, wooden pot or basket. They are often linked to one person. The pot is 13 cm high, including the custom-made base approximately 17 cm. The circumference at the bottom of the pot is 28 cm. The weight of the pot is 319 grams, including the base 616 grams.