The Cleveland Museum of Art currently has an exhibit of canes, bowls, snuff boxes, etc. representing private, useful, personal objects that are also art: 
The Art of Daily Life: Portable Objects from Southeast Africa “celebrates the stunning formal diversity and deep cultural meanings of Southeast Africa’s artistic heritage. Despite some growing interest and appreciation over the past three decades, the art of traditional southern African societies have long been neglected. Portable in nature and generally small in size, works created by peoples such as the Zulu, Nguni, Tsonga, Ndebele, Sotho, and Swazi in the 19th and 20th centuries were typically related to the privacy of the home or the intimacy of the person. The makers and users of many of these works were cattle-herders with a complex history of migrations. This nomadic existence has contributed to the emergence of fluid regional artistic styles that often defy specific ethnic attributions.”
The Art of Daily Life: Portable Objects from Southeast Africa
The Cleveland Museum of Art, 11150 East Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio
(Images- items from 1800s—1900s: Snuff Container (South Africa, Zulu people or Northern Nguni people, Gourd, copper and brass wire) and Staff (the Baboon Master ,South Africa, Tsonga people, Wood)