The object is a broken off part of a gourd. Different types of bottle gourds are used throughout Africa (south of the Sahara) and around the world as food, decoration, for making vessels and utensils, e.g. musical instruments, and as fishing buoys. Since no special carvings or engravings are present, it is difficult to to attribute this object to a specific (African) ethnic society or to decipher the exact purpose for which this object was used. The collector and the exact circumstances of the acquisition circumstances remain unclear to date (processing status: 2023). Due to the presumed colonial context of the collection, the object should still be categorised as sensitive.