Bowl

Description

This wooden bowl has steep, curving sides which slightly extend outwards at the top, forming two lug handles. While the inside of this bowl is smooth and the bottom is flattened, the exterior is rough and underworked, particularly on the underside. Utilitarian household items made from wood are sometimes called treen or treenware, terms which come from the word tree. The striking visual pattern of the grain on this bowl is due to it being carved from a burl – a knotty, irregular growth which can form on trees. Burl treen was commonplace in pre-colonial and colonial America, used among Native Americans and European settlers alike. Burls were plentiful in North American forests and their naturally round shapes easily lent themselves to the form of a bowl, while the wood’s interlocking grain made burl treen more durable and less subject to splitting than straight grain woodenware. The maker and origin of this object is unknown, but its construction suggests it may have been made by a Native American artist.