Origin: Tekna Moors (Western Sahara, Morocco)

Local name: tarehut (in Tamashek)

Dating: mid 20th century

Dimensions: height 9.8 cm, dia. 21.4 cm

Material: wood

Techniques: carpentry

Acquired by: Adam Rybiński, camp near Guiliminne (Morocco), 2001. 2022).

Description:

There are two theories about the origin of the term Mauri, according to one version it is derived from the Greek word "Μαυρούσιοι" and the other from the Latin "Mauri" [anonymous. 2000: 1538; Morin, Gaspard, unknown date.: 69], which in Roman times meant the Berbers of Mauritania. Over time, it was increasingly applied to Muslims living in Europe. Since the Renaissance, the term has also been used to describe a person with black or tanned skin. According to Gabriel Camps, “The Spaniards of the Reconquista period and the Europeans who followed them retained the name and gave it an even broader meaning because it was used to refer to North Africans. (…) a “dark” connotation was added to the ancient term given by the Greek adjective “μαυρος” (mauros), the name of the Moors and Mauretania was restored in the colonial era to denote nomadic peoples, largely influenced by Arab culture, and the country located south of Morocco, former Mauritania Tingitane” [2007].

The presented vessel was used during the milking of camels [Rybiński 2020-2022]. It has a shape characteristic of the vessels of many peoples of the western part of the Sahel. It comes in two basic forms with a wide rim with a fine ornament and with a thin rim. The former was used for eating food with spoons, the latter for drinking. The hemispherical bottom proves that it was used by peoples living in sandy areas. It allows you to slightly sink the bottom of the bowl into the ground, so that it does not tilt and the milk does not spill out. Hemispherical dishes can also be found in farms, where the yard is on a hard and flat ground. Then the dish is often tilted, they do not serve liquids, only a sticky paste made of millet, which, even when the dish is tilted, will not spill onto the ground.

Bibliography:

anonymous, 2000, Entrée "Maure", in: Le nouveau Petit Robert, Paris.

Camps Gabriel, 2007, Les Berbères: mémoire et identité, Arles: Actes sud. Morin J.B., Jean-Baptiste Gaspard d'Ansse de Villoison, unknown date, Dictionnaire étymologique des mots françois dérivés du grec, unknown place of publication.

Rybiński Adam, information provided during interviews (2020-2022).

 Edited by Lucjan Buchalik

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The purchase is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sport as part of the National Institute of Museums and Collections' own program "Expansion of museum collections".