Aromatic necklet
Accession Number:
[1884.75.27]
Country:
?Sudan
Region:
[Southern Sudan?]
Date Made:
?Before 1865
Materials:
Wood Plant , Plant Stem
Process:
Strung
Other Owners:
Collected in Sudan by John Petherick, sometime between 1853 and 1859, or 1861 to 1865. Subsequently acquired by Pitt Rivers by 1868, perhaps via auction as Petherick is known to have auctioned some of his collection through Mr Bullock of High Holborn, Lon
Field Collector:
John Petherick
PRM Source:
Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers founding collection
Acquired:
Donated 1884
Collected Date:
1853 - 1859 or 1861 - 1865
Description:
Neck ornament made from cyperus tubers strung together.
Collected in the Southern Sudan by John Petherick in the mid nineteenth century, possibly during his earlier period in the country, sometime between 1853 and 1858. Material from this period was shipped back to England in 1859, and subsequently sold at auction by Mr Bullock at High Holborn, London, on 27th June 1962 (see the Catalogue of the very interesting collection of arms and implements of war, husbandry, and the chase, and articles of costume and domestic use, procured during several expeditions up the White Nile, Bahr-il-Gazal, and among the various tribes of the country, to the cannibal Neam Nam territory on the Equator, by John Petherick, Esq., H.M. Consul, Khartoum, Soudan ). This auction contained several necklaces, although the material of these is rarely specified in the auction catalogue. It is also possible that Petherick obtained it during his second period in the Sudan, between 1862 and 1865; the date of the auction of that material is not known, although some items were bought from it by the Royal United Services Institution. Pitt Rivers may have purchased the item at either auction. He sent this object to Bethnal Green Museum for display, probably in 1874. It was later displayed in the South Kensington Museum and transferred from there to become part of the founding collection of the Pitt Rivers Museum in 1884.
Petherick does not comment on the use of scented wood for personal ornaments of this kind, so it is not clear which culture this should be attributed to. For other cyperus sp. necklaces, see 1884.75.26 and 28 and also 1942.1.447. Presumably these beads are made from the woody stem or culm of the plant.
Rachael Sparks 25/9/2005.
Collected in the Southern Sudan by John Petherick in the mid nineteenth century, possibly during his earlier period in the country, sometime between 1853 and 1858. Material from this period was shipped back to England in 1859, and subsequently sold at auction by Mr Bullock at High Holborn, London, on 27th June 1962 (see the Catalogue of the very interesting collection of arms and implements of war, husbandry, and the chase, and articles of costume and domestic use, procured during several expeditions up the White Nile, Bahr-il-Gazal, and among the various tribes of the country, to the cannibal Neam Nam territory on the Equator, by John Petherick, Esq., H.M. Consul, Khartoum, Soudan ). This auction contained several necklaces, although the material of these is rarely specified in the auction catalogue. It is also possible that Petherick obtained it during his second period in the Sudan, between 1862 and 1865; the date of the auction of that material is not known, although some items were bought from it by the Royal United Services Institution. Pitt Rivers may have purchased the item at either auction. He sent this object to Bethnal Green Museum for display, probably in 1874. It was later displayed in the South Kensington Museum and transferred from there to become part of the founding collection of the Pitt Rivers Museum in 1884.
Petherick does not comment on the use of scented wood for personal ornaments of this kind, so it is not clear which culture this should be attributed to. For other cyperus sp. necklaces, see 1884.75.26 and 28 and also 1942.1.447. Presumably these beads are made from the woody stem or culm of the plant.
Rachael Sparks 25/9/2005.
Primary Documentation:
Accession Book IV entry
[p.
166]
-
[insert] 1884.75 cont.
[end insert]
PERSONAL ORNAMENTS NUTS, SEEDS etc (cont.
) [insert] 26, 27 [end insert] - [1 of] 2 necklets of tubers of
cyperus
strung together.
C.
AFRICA.
Petherick coll.
(1504 black).
Collectors Miscellaneous XI Accession Book entry [p. 193] - PETHERICK, Consul [...] [insert] 1884.75.26, .27 [end insert] 2 necklets of cyperus tubers C[entral] Africa. (P.R. black 1504).
Black book entry [p. 60] - 1504. Rude wood necklace. C. Africa. Obtd by Petherick. [insert] 1884.75.26 + 27 [end insert].
Delivery Catalogue II entry [p. 270] - [insert] 1884.75.26 + 27 [end insert] Necklace of wood. C. Africa. 1504. Case 8, [screen?] 325.
Collectors Miscellaneous XI Accession Book entry [p. 193] - PETHERICK, Consul [...] [insert] 1884.75.26, .27 [end insert] 2 necklets of cyperus tubers C[entral] Africa. (P.R. black 1504).
Black book entry [p. 60] - 1504. Rude wood necklace. C. Africa. Obtd by Petherick. [insert] 1884.75.26 + 27 [end insert].
Delivery Catalogue II entry [p. 270] - [insert] 1884.75.26 + 27 [end insert] Necklace of wood. C. Africa. 1504. Case 8, [screen?] 325.
Display History:
Displayed in Bethnal Green and South Kensington Museums (V&A)[AP]
