Minneapolis Institute of Art

Coconut-grater stool

Swahili artist

Date

mid 20th century

Medium

Wood, metal

Culture

Swahili

Department

Arts of Global Africa

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

You’d be hard-pressed to identify this mysterious, almost dangerous-looking object—unless you’re familiar with coconut grating along the Swahili coast of East Africa. Then it’s fairly straightforward: you sit on the stool and scrape the inside of an opened coconut on the protruding metal blade. The coconut shavings are collected and later pushed through a sieve to make coconut milk. The X-shape of the stool resembles a Qur’an stand, while the geometric designs show both Arab and Indian influences on Swahili culture. Tanzania

The authoritative record is held by Minneapolis Institute of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.