Tea Pot with Lid

Artist Abuja Pottery Training Centre (Nigerian, founded 1951)

CultureNigerian

DateMid-late 20th century

MediumClay, copper, and cane

DimensionsOverall: 5 × 5 × 5 inches (12.7 × 12.7 × 12.7 cm)

Credit LineGift of Warren Prawl

Object number2025.78.1,2

On View

Not on view

Terms

DescriptionThis teapot has a round, bulbous body and a short spout. A cane handle is attached to the pot by the front end, near the spout, and to the rear. A small, circular lid has a knob that protrudes from its center. The glaze of the teapot is a shiny dark grey/black. The natural brown pigment of the clay is visible in some areas where the glaze did not fully cover the body of the pot or the lid.Provenance

Provenance

Abuja Pottery Training Centre, Suleja, Nigeria, by 1972;

Purchased from Abuja Pottery Training Centre by Warren Prawl (b.1931), Manhattan, KS, 1972 [1];

His gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2025.

NOTES:

[1] According to correspondence from Warren Prawl to Rachel Kabukala, Associate Curator of African Art, on July 28, 2025, Prawl "lived and worked in northern Nigeria at Ahmadu Bello Univeristy in the 1970's." After his time there, he "returned with some of Ladi Kwali's fantastic pottery." The potter's marks on the bottom of the teapot suggest that, while it is not a Ladi Kwali work, it is most likely by the hand of another pottery from the workshop. In correspondence between Finn Miller, Curatorial Assistant of African Art, and Brian Brawl, son of Warren Prawl, Brian specifies that his father purchased the work in 1972 and brought it back to the United States in October 1973. See NAMA object file for copies of correspondence.

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