This collector picked up the piece, complete with the three-legged stool on which it stands, from the home of a cultural leader of the Bamasaba in Mbale. When he offered to acquire the item, it was presented to him as a vessel in which he could burn dry banana leaves for their aroma. He said he wanted it for an altogether different reason: its beauty as an example of the brilliance of traditional artisans. He wanted simply to behold it from time to time, he said, aroma be damned.
