Estate Living Magazine Invest SA - Issue 45 September 2019 | Page 64

L I V E
S M A R T
SOMETHING
YOU LOVE …
The oldest ceramic object is a nude female figurine dating back to about 25,000 BC,
found in the Moravian Basin in the Czech Republic. Generally accepted to be a fertility
symbol that formed part of a wider culture, no one knows how the first one was made.
Perhaps a man yearning for his wife, or even – let’s not limit ourselves here – a youth
on the brink of puberty, fashioned a voluptuous woman from a handy bit of clay and,
not appreciating his handiwork, tossed it in the fire. Unbeknown to him this action
hardened his creation, enabling it to last until this lifetime…
Fiction? Perhaps, but there is enough evidence of pottery vessels
around to know that somewhere along the line creativity and
functionality met – across several locations and a diverse population.
Some of the earliest finds are in China (18,000 BC), Russian Far East
(14,000 BC), Japan (10,500 BC) and Sub-Saharan Africa (7,000 BC).
vessel for making and serving beer that still has significance today.
It is used at coming-of-age and marriage ceremonies, to introduce
a new child to the family’s ancestors, and also at burial ceremonies.
A little closer to home, African pots – including the much-loved Zulu
pots you see at roadside markets in KwaZulu-Natal – are beautifully
formed vessels that are simultaneously art, craft and functionality,
shaped to form with bare hands and often decorated with beautiful
symbols. They were traditionally used to carry water, store food and
milk, and for cooking and the making and serving of beer – and
sometimes still are. The age-old process of pot making begins with the collection of
clay near the homestead, allowing it to dry out, grinding it to the
correct fineness and reconstituting it with water when required.
Sometimes sand, pebbles or old pottery, chopped dried grass and
even dung are kneaded into the clay to decrease the shrinkage
during the drying process. Pots are created by adding coils of clay
to a clay base, pinching them together and smoothing the surfaces
out. Decorative elements are added when the pots have dried, but
before their first firing. They are then polished with animal fat or soot,
and re-fired to create a dark, glossy finish.
The 2,000-year-old Zulu tradition of women potters continues to
this day, with this specialised skill often passed down in families.
Traditionally the skill revolved around making beer pots, an earthen Modern artistic renditions of the traditional Zulu beer pot by world-
renowned potters such as the late Nesta Nala (whose daughters now
continue the legacy) and Clive Sithole, among others, have made
Tradition