Title
Slaked lime container
Year/Period
First half of the 20th century
Region
Karo, Northern Sumatra
Object Type
Material
Technique
Dimension
Object size: 18.5 x 5.0 x 5.0 cm
Accession No.
2018-00956
Collection of
Credit Line
Gift of the City of Delft, Netherlands
This container (tempat kapur) from the Karo Batak people of North Sumatra is made from bamboo, wood and water buffalo horn. It would have been used to store slaked lime, a paste of powdered calcium that is a key ingredient in betel chewing, a mild narcotic popular in much of Southeast Asia until recent times.
