kruka, kärl

Ett lerkärl med rund kropp och botten samt smal hals med inristade mönster. Ytan är fläckig i en mörkröd ton.
Jämför med liknande keramik, t ex 1906.39.291, 1909.3.1 och 1954.1.1904.
1954.1.1932 innehåller "krukmakarens verktyg: Drejskiva, flenser, tyglapp, viska".1927.1.46 innehåller prov på nkisubark som användes till att färga lerkärlen.
"Pottery is generally carried on in places where good potter's clay is available. Where this is unobtainable, pots are a much sought-after article of trade in the market, to which they are taken by men, who also sell them. The actual work of making the pots, on the other hand, is delegated to women. The potters themselves seldom get the clay, they order it, instead, from younger women. The latter also prepare it, and are paid in food. From valleys and ravines the clay is transported in large baskets or on broad planks, on which it is afterwards kneaded. The clay is pounded for a couple of hours, is then watered in an old mpidi-basket and given to the potter, who makes pots, jugs, platesand mugs.
When a pot is to be made, the bottom of a calabash is generally placed on a disc (nsuku), which rests on hard, level ground or on a short post that has been hammered into the earth. A lump of clay is placed on the calabash-bottom, worked up with the hands and kneaded untill it is soft enough to be easily formed with the fingers. Wooden spades or well-made pieces of palm-laths are used to pat the clay to make it stong and firm, for it may otherwise dissolve when sprinkled with water, and if the clay is not well prepared, moreover, small bumps may also arise. The pot is built up with clay rings (nzekula) , which are added one or several at a time and smoothed together with great care. When the widest part (the "breast") of the pot has been reached the clay is moistened inside, after which somewhat smaller rings are added untill the brim is formed. This is turned slightly outwards and the pot is put aside to dry slowly. If any ornamentation is desired, this must be scratched in before the burning. Before this takes place it is also necessary to cut away the lump of clay upon which the pot stood while being built up. At the place of manufacture a pot was formerly paid for with the peanuts it could hold, it might also be paid for with nsangi-fish. In the same way also masanga and nkuba jugs and bibenge plates are made.
For the burning, dry grass, juicy coarse grass, small sappy trees, nsyasya-branches and mwindu-trees from the moors are collected. The clay vessels must first dry at a slow fire. When the heat has thoroughly penetrated the vessels they are placed one on top of the other in a pyramid-shaped heap (dilanda), wood is built up round about and ignited. If any vessel has been insufficiently burned, charcoal or kindling is placed in the same and smaller fire lit round it. If the vessels are desired flamey or black, a piece of nkombuluka-bark is pounded untill it is like bristles, or else fine brushes of futi-grass are made with small holes in them. Bark of the mwindu-tree is pounded in water. When the vessels are almost completely fired, they are thoroughly brushed outside and inside with the mwindu-solution and burned once more. They then become quite black. If, on the other hand, a flamey effect is desired, they are sprinkled rapidly in patches with a weak mwindu-solution after the burning. Small plates with high rims are used as drinking mugs, the bigger plates are used for serving food. The biggest pot is ntubu, after which, on a diminishing scale, come mutelula, kyansakila, nsaba and mpungu. The jugs have various shapes. Fuku-fuku, for example, has a wide mouth." Laman, 1953, s 126-27.
"Ett lerkärl bygges upp efter ungefär samma princip som de spiralflätade korgarna. En väl bearbetad lervulst lägges varv på varv från bottnen och upp, varunder kärlämnet vrides runt på lämpligt underlag. Sidan buktas därvid