Zaire Centerpiece Bowl

The grand prize given to this striking silver centerpiece at the 1930 Antwerp World's Fair celebrated both the unique design of Belgian jeweler and designer Raymond Ruys and the importance of Belgium's colonial holdings in Africa. Ruys combined the traditional qualities of African art, already an influence on 20th-century European painting and sculpture, with the abstracted lines of the Art Deco style to produce this unusual and aptly named Zaire Centerpiece Bowl. Drawing from the solidity, mass and ornamentation of African stools and drums, the bowl's highly stylized horizontal bands, vertical ribs and trapezoidal feet of gleaming, hand-hammered silver exemplify this jeweler's demanding sense of craftsmanship and his adept design ability.