east african jug? please help

Hello,
Does anyone knows what is this ? it's antique or fake?
I've seen something similar in ethiopian tribal art but i could be wrong....

 

Welcome gaetano.
@2manybooks ?

 

hello everyone

 

Hello gaetano.
It does not look like anything "real" that I have seen. The carved figure is quite crude. Perhaps a few more views might be helpful, so I can see if it might have a reasonable function. Can you tell if the basic form is made of wood, or gourd, or pottery? Is the carved figure a stopper - does it come out? Can you tell if the carved figure is ivory? (If it is ivory, you may be able to see faint, curved crosshatching lines on some surfaces such as the top of the head. These are characteristic of elephant ivory, and known as Schreger lines.)

 

I'm seeing this as made of pottery, with a great many impressed cowrie-shells. The shells do give it an African vibe; but the general appearance looks more like studio pottery, like someone's impression of African-ness.

 

It's a modern decorator piece from the look of it. Nothing fake or antique, just funky/cool/interesting.

 

@gaetano73 I think more info (see @2manybooks post) and pictures are needed before anything can be decided.

 

Interesting. I notice they don't give any more specific provenance beyond "Africa", and describe it as a "smoking pot", which turns out to be a very difficult term to research . I assume they mean a type of water pipe, for smoking tobacco.
My feeling is that these may be from the Congo area, and may be related to pipes made by the Hemba/Luba, such as these:

http://eafri.blogspot.com/2010/05/calabash-water-pipe-wood-tar-used.html

 

Great finds, inh! The first one looks very like the op's. (https://www.icollector.com/19th-c-African-water-pipe-water-bottle_i11710915)
I tried searching for African water pipes and came up with all kinds of nonsense. You have the touch.
I am not sure I buy the 19th century attribution. They strike me as made for sale - the style is very generic "Africany". But I might be wrong.

 

Thanks guys you're the best.....it's a water pipe almost exactly like the one posted, mad of mud, bone and shells.....but the mine is someway less attractive( the carving on the bone is very rough, so the work on the shells).....so it really could be a water pipe, but probably from 20th century...