Domestic Pottery In Ghana

Domestic pottery as the name implies, are those that are made specifically for use in the home. These include pots, bowls and dishes modelled to suit the functions they are intended for and in line with traditional aesthetic values. Generally, the names are closely associated with a range of household activities and in most cases, the circumference of the mouth and the size of the body determines what the vessels are supposed to be used for. The predominant shape of pots produced by Eυe potters is round or circular purposely made for fetching and storing water, general cooking and storing food substances while bowls and dishes are made for grinding and serving food, mixing substances and roasting cereals and tubers. It is unfortunate to find

INTRODUCTION A great variety of pottery containers are produced to meet the demands of daily life activities in indigenous societies, precisely Ghana. The varied shapes and sizes modelled determine to a large extent how the pots are used. These may be grouped as domestic, commercial, prestigious and religious pots. It is in the interest of the this paper to explore the forms, names and uses of pots. In building pots, the potter creates the shape and size desired for a particular purpose. For example, small wide pots are made for cooking relish while rounded deeper pots are used for cooking maize meal in larger quantities (Aguilar, 2007). The most common shapes of pots are oval, semicircular and circular serving numerous domestic needs. These include, cooking pots, water storage and palm wine pots, eating bowls and ceremonial pots. Amenuke, et al., (1991) noted that, indigenous Ghanaian pottery assumes the shapes of oval, spherical or half-spherical. Oval-shaped pots are used as washing and palm-wine containers. Water for drinking is stored in the spherical-shaped pot while the half-sphere pots are used for serving food and storing

A Kono potter in Sierra Leone rates a good pot in terms of its roundness or if it can contain. In forming pots, there is an emphasis on maintaining a round mouth. In justifying this fact, Kono potters explained that the form of the pot seizes to be a pot if it did not assume the round shape, in other words if it could not contain (Arnoldi, Geary and Hardin, 1996). Essentially, this concept stresses the idea that pots must be modelled to merit the quality needed to hold substances. In effect, this idea pervades the technicality involved in making pots not only in the Kono but definitely in other pot making cultures such as among the Eʋe