Zulu Bowl with Hallmarked Silver Rim

This well proportioned bowl was probably brought back to Scotland by a participant in the Boer War (1899-1902). It must have been a prized memento as the owner at the time thought enough of it to have a sterling silver rim made for it. The rim has the thistle mark for Scottish sterling, the castle mark for Edinburgh and a date mark (B in a shield) for 1908. The maker's mark appears to be Brook and Sons.

The bowl is carved with the traditional amasumpa decoration, meaning warts or bumps. Although it is a bowl, not a meat platter, it is decorated in the manner of a meat platter with the decoration extending to the underside. The underside of bowls and trays were carved with decoration to serve as both identification and ornamentation. When food was being divided up communally women would rest their platters against a wall with the under side showing so that the owner could easily be identified.