Nuer beaded headdress
Other views of this artifact:
Accession Number:
1884.32.3
Country:
Sudan
Region:
[Southern Sudan]
Cultural Group:
Nuer
Date Made:
Before 1859
Materials:
Plant Fibre? , String , Glass , Bead
Process:
Netted , Twisted , Knotted , Strung , Beadwork , Drawn
Dimensions:
[Headdress] - L from bottom to central point at sides = 490 mm, L from bottom (at back) to central point = 465 mm, L from central point to end of fringe = 240 mm; Measurements of Beads - L = 9 mm Diam = 5-6 mm [AP]. Measurements taken while the headdre
Weight:
> 1000 g
Other Owners:
Collected by John Petherick, sometime between 1853 and 1859 and shipped back to England in 1859. Acquired by Pitt Rivers at an auction of Petherick's material, held by Mr Bullock of High Holborn, London, on 27th June 1862, as lot 102 - see the Catalogue o
Field Collector:
John Petherick
PRM Source:
Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers founding collection
Acquired:
Donated 1884
Collected Date:
1853 - 1859
Description:
Headdress made from a series of cylindrical beads knotted onto a stringwork body, shaped to form a simple hemispherical cap with an extended rectangular tail piece that widens to the base, and which serves to protect the back of the neck.
The lower edge of this neck guard has a straight edge.
The body was constructed first from a series of light brown twisted cords, with a woolly consistency (Pantone 7509C).
These have been arranged in horizontal rows, 5 mm apart, crossed at right angles by a series of more widely spaced vertical cords that are between 15 to 18 mm apart at the base, with the gap narrowing towards the upper part of the cap.
Each vertical element is composed of two twisted strands, that open to pass on either side of each horizontal cord, effectively tying the warp and weft together.
The stringwork is strengthened down either long edge of the neck guard with four thicker cords, tied onto the weft by smaller pieces of string that also help attach the beads at this point.
These continue up to the centre of the top.
The outer face of the headdress has been completely covered with horizontal rows of beads, strung so they stand with one flat end resting against the body netting, and the other visible on the surface.
This is a flexible arrangement that allows each bead to move slightly; when worn, the beads seem to radiate out from a central point at the apex of the cap.
Each bead has been tied on individually, using a short section of string that loops over the weft cords, with the two ends then passing through the string hole before being secured with a thick knot at the other end, these knots becoming a decorative feature the exterior surface.
The edge of the headdress has been given a slightly different finish, and consists of a single row of the same type of bead, strung to lie at right angles to the others and providing a flat border that runs across the front of the cap, down either long side and across the base of the neck guard, where it splits into a double border.
This has been secured around the outer edge by an additional line of knotted string.
The beads are all of roughly of the same size and colour, and are made from an opaque white glass (slightly whiter than Pantone 7499C).
Some examples appear to have a thick core of this colour, coated with a thin outer layer of colourless glass that is visible in section.
They have no mould lines and have probably been drawn and cut to similar lengths, varying from circular to slightly oval in section.
They measure from 8 to 9 mm in length, between 5 to 6 mm in diameter, and have a string hole diameter of 2 mm.
The object is essentially complete, but there is some damage to the string body that has been bound round with modern thread by conservation, particularly at the centre of the neck guard; one bead has become detached and is stored in a separate bag with the object; other beads have damaged ends, and a few have lost their top knots. It has a weight in excess of 1000 grams. When lying flat (i.e.: not being worn), it has a total length of 440 mm, with a width across the front of the cap of 255 mm, and across the base of the neck guard of 325 mm, while it is around 11 mm thick.
This headdress was collected by Petherick sometime between 1853 and 1859, when he was a trader based in Khartoum, and involved in several expeditions to the south; several of these passed through Dinka territories along the Sobat, and amongst the Raik Dinka in the Bahr el Ghazal/Jur river areas. It was shipped back to England in 1859. He apparently displayed it at a talk given to the Royal United Services Institution in 1861, and it was sold to Pitt Rivers at an auction of Petherick's material, held by Mr Bullock of High Holborn, London, on 27th June 1862, as lot 102 - 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, p. 8, "[Lot] 102. A very singular helmet of cylindrical white beads (Nouaer)". Pitt Rivers subsequently sent this object to Bethnal Green Museum for display, as part of the first batch of objects sent there, probably in 1874; it was later displayed in the South Kensington Museum, and sent from there to become part of the founding collection of the Pitt Rivers Museum in 1884.
Petherick described this object in that talk as follows: "The Nouaer on both sides of the Nile from 8 to 10˚ north latitude wear a helmet made of cylindrical white beads (fig 22)." (J. Petherick, 1861, "On the arms of the Arab and Negro Tribes of Central Africa, bordering on the White Nile", Journal of the Royal United Services Institution IV no. 13, p. 173). A similar headdress is mentioned in his 1861 book, where it is associated with the Dinka: "Anoin and his brother [2 Dinka men] wore caps resembling sailors' sou'westers, composed of white tubular beads sewn in close contact on to a piece of soft hide; the thread was of cotton, and in its manufacture a thorn proved a good substitute for a needle" (J. Petherick, 1861, Egypt, The Sudan and Central Africa, p. 440). Note that the Pitt Rivers example does not incorporate a hide base, although in other respects the description sounds similar to this example.
Schweinfurth also observed this type of headdress: "Since the Dinka cannot do much with his ... hair, he turns his attention to caps and perukes ... Whilst I was with Kudy I often saw these strange specimens of head-gear which in the shape of a Circassian chain-helmet, are formed exclusively of large white bugle-beads, which in Khartoum are called 'muria'. This decoration is especially common amongst the Nuer" (G. Schweinfurth, 1873, The Heart of Africa Volume 1, pp 153-154). This would seem to confirm that the type was found amongst both Dinka and Nuer.
This headdress was published by J.G. Wood in his Natural History of Man Volume I, with an illustration and detail of the beadwork on p. 522. Wood commentated that the headdress " … is white, in imitation of the clay with which the head is usually decorated, and is made of cylindrical beads shaped as if they were pieces of tobacco-pipe ... The singular point in this head-dress is the exact resemblance to the soldier's casque of ancient Egypt, and to the helmets now in use in India and other parts of the world". It is also discussed in a talk given by Pitt Rivers to the Royal United Services Institution, with the comment: "A headdress of nearly the same form as Figs 20 and 21, belonging to the Nouaer tribe of Negroes, inhabiting both sides of the Nile from 8 to 10˚ N latitude, brought to England by Mr Petherick and now in Col. Fox's collection. It resembles the Egyptian very closely and is composed of cylindrical white beads, fastened together with a kind of string. The beads are of European manufacture" (Lane Fox, 1867, " Primitive Warfare Part I", Journal of the Royal United Services Institution 11 , p. 32, pl. III, figure 22; the image was published again in Pitt Rivers, 1906, The Evolution of Culture, p. 61 and pl. VIII no. 22 (erroneously called 'Ethiopian'). Much of his description seems to be based on Petherick's and Wood's publications. The headdress is also mentioned briefly in A.A. Blackman, 1956, The Material Culture of the Nilotic Tribes of East Africa (Unpublished B.Litt. thesis, University of Oxford), p. 250; and discussed by M. Carey in Beads and Beadwork of East and South Africa (Shire Ethnography 1986, p. 21 and fig. 7).
There are 2 similar headdresses in the Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin. Accession number III.A.321 was collected by Schweinfurth in 1872, and accession number III.A.2273 was collected by Johannes Duemichen during an expedition to Egypt, Nubia and the Sudan in the late 1850's/early 1860's. A third headdress of this type is now in the Museum of World Ethnography 'Franz Binder' in Sibiu, Romania, where it is currently exhibited as part of the ' Art and Culture of the Peoples of the World', accession number E57 (old number 136). It was discussed in Verhandlungen und Mitteilungen des siebenburg. Vereins für naturwissenschaften zu hermannstadt, I. Wissenshaftlicher Teil, 1935 (no author given), pp 50-51, where the comment was made that this type of headdress, which was very impratical in a hot climate like the Sudan, was worn only by people of high status (based on research by Alison Petch).
The style of these items is also comparable to a headdress decorated with cypraea shells illustrated in E. Castelli, 1984, Orazio Antinori in Africa Centrale 1859-1861, p. 22 figure 2, in a reproduction from a plate published by A. Castelbolognesi, 1862, Voyage au fleuve des Gazelles in Le Tour du Monde.
The beads used in this headdress are probably of European manufacture; for similar examples are found in the Arkell bead collection, see 1971.15.196 and 1971.15.1128.
Rachael Sparks 26/9/2005.
The object is essentially complete, but there is some damage to the string body that has been bound round with modern thread by conservation, particularly at the centre of the neck guard; one bead has become detached and is stored in a separate bag with the object; other beads have damaged ends, and a few have lost their top knots. It has a weight in excess of 1000 grams. When lying flat (i.e.: not being worn), it has a total length of 440 mm, with a width across the front of the cap of 255 mm, and across the base of the neck guard of 325 mm, while it is around 11 mm thick.
This headdress was collected by Petherick sometime between 1853 and 1859, when he was a trader based in Khartoum, and involved in several expeditions to the south; several of these passed through Dinka territories along the Sobat, and amongst the Raik Dinka in the Bahr el Ghazal/Jur river areas. It was shipped back to England in 1859. He apparently displayed it at a talk given to the Royal United Services Institution in 1861, and it was sold to Pitt Rivers at an auction of Petherick's material, held by Mr Bullock of High Holborn, London, on 27th June 1862, as lot 102 - 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, p. 8, "[Lot] 102. A very singular helmet of cylindrical white beads (Nouaer)". Pitt Rivers subsequently sent this object to Bethnal Green Museum for display, as part of the first batch of objects sent there, probably in 1874; it was later displayed in the South Kensington Museum, and sent from there to become part of the founding collection of the Pitt Rivers Museum in 1884.
Petherick described this object in that talk as follows: "The Nouaer on both sides of the Nile from 8 to 10˚ north latitude wear a helmet made of cylindrical white beads (fig 22)." (J. Petherick, 1861, "On the arms of the Arab and Negro Tribes of Central Africa, bordering on the White Nile", Journal of the Royal United Services Institution IV no. 13, p. 173). A similar headdress is mentioned in his 1861 book, where it is associated with the Dinka: "Anoin and his brother [2 Dinka men] wore caps resembling sailors' sou'westers, composed of white tubular beads sewn in close contact on to a piece of soft hide; the thread was of cotton, and in its manufacture a thorn proved a good substitute for a needle" (J. Petherick, 1861, Egypt, The Sudan and Central Africa, p. 440). Note that the Pitt Rivers example does not incorporate a hide base, although in other respects the description sounds similar to this example.
Schweinfurth also observed this type of headdress: "Since the Dinka cannot do much with his ... hair, he turns his attention to caps and perukes ... Whilst I was with Kudy I often saw these strange specimens of head-gear which in the shape of a Circassian chain-helmet, are formed exclusively of large white bugle-beads, which in Khartoum are called 'muria'. This decoration is especially common amongst the Nuer" (G. Schweinfurth, 1873, The Heart of Africa Volume 1, pp 153-154). This would seem to confirm that the type was found amongst both Dinka and Nuer.
This headdress was published by J.G. Wood in his Natural History of Man Volume I, with an illustration and detail of the beadwork on p. 522. Wood commentated that the headdress " … is white, in imitation of the clay with which the head is usually decorated, and is made of cylindrical beads shaped as if they were pieces of tobacco-pipe ... The singular point in this head-dress is the exact resemblance to the soldier's casque of ancient Egypt, and to the helmets now in use in India and other parts of the world". It is also discussed in a talk given by Pitt Rivers to the Royal United Services Institution, with the comment: "A headdress of nearly the same form as Figs 20 and 21, belonging to the Nouaer tribe of Negroes, inhabiting both sides of the Nile from 8 to 10˚ N latitude, brought to England by Mr Petherick and now in Col. Fox's collection. It resembles the Egyptian very closely and is composed of cylindrical white beads, fastened together with a kind of string. The beads are of European manufacture" (Lane Fox, 1867, " Primitive Warfare Part I", Journal of the Royal United Services Institution 11 , p. 32, pl. III, figure 22; the image was published again in Pitt Rivers, 1906, The Evolution of Culture, p. 61 and pl. VIII no. 22 (erroneously called 'Ethiopian'). Much of his description seems to be based on Petherick's and Wood's publications. The headdress is also mentioned briefly in A.A. Blackman, 1956, The Material Culture of the Nilotic Tribes of East Africa (Unpublished B.Litt. thesis, University of Oxford), p. 250; and discussed by M. Carey in Beads and Beadwork of East and South Africa (Shire Ethnography 1986, p. 21 and fig. 7).
There are 2 similar headdresses in the Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin. Accession number III.A.321 was collected by Schweinfurth in 1872, and accession number III.A.2273 was collected by Johannes Duemichen during an expedition to Egypt, Nubia and the Sudan in the late 1850's/early 1860's. A third headdress of this type is now in the Museum of World Ethnography 'Franz Binder' in Sibiu, Romania, where it is currently exhibited as part of the ' Art and Culture of the Peoples of the World', accession number E57 (old number 136). It was discussed in Verhandlungen und Mitteilungen des siebenburg. Vereins für naturwissenschaften zu hermannstadt, I. Wissenshaftlicher Teil, 1935 (no author given), pp 50-51, where the comment was made that this type of headdress, which was very impratical in a hot climate like the Sudan, was worn only by people of high status (based on research by Alison Petch).
The style of these items is also comparable to a headdress decorated with cypraea shells illustrated in E. Castelli, 1984, Orazio Antinori in Africa Centrale 1859-1861, p. 22 figure 2, in a reproduction from a plate published by A. Castelbolognesi, 1862, Voyage au fleuve des Gazelles in Le Tour du Monde.
The beads used in this headdress are probably of European manufacture; for similar examples are found in the Arkell bead collection, see 1971.15.196 and 1971.15.1128.
Rachael Sparks 26/9/2005.
Primary Documentation:
Accession Book IV entry
[p.
83] [insert] 1884.32 [end insert]
DEFENCE HELMETS
[insert] 3 [end insert] - 129 -
(Helmet) [insert] headdress [end insert] of white cylindrical beads, elaborately mounted on end, on net-work, with neck-guard.
NUER, C.
AFRICA, Petherick coll.
(78 black).
Added Accession Book IV entry [p. 83] - 1884.32.3 Number given. LMC. See notes on cards. [red biro] A11-F23-4. [p. opposite 83] - [Drawing].
Black book entry [p. 4] - 78. Helmet, cylindrical white beads. Worn by the Nou a er on both sides of the Nile from 8˚ to 10˚ N. latitude. Similar in form to the Ancient Egyptian. Obtained by Con'l Petherick (129). [insert] 1884.32.3 [end insert].
Delivery Catalogue II entry [p. 260] - Hats and Helmets Contd., Helmet, cylindrical beads, with neck guard, Nile, 129, Upper Screen 2, 312 & 313.
Pitt Rivers Catalogue Entry (1874) [p. 24] - Screen 4. [p. 26] NORTH ARCH. HEAD-DRESSES AND HELMETS FROM DIFFERENT LOCALITIES. [p. 27] 129. HELMET of cylindrical white beads, with neck-guard at back, worn by Nouaer on both sides of the Nile, from 8-10˚ N Latitude. Similar in form to the ancient Egyptian head-dress. Obtained by Mr Petherick [see Journal of the Royal United Service Journal, vol iv. no. xiii].
Card Catalogue Entry [tribes] - As Accession Book.
Added Card Catalogue entry - Unlikely to be defensive helmet: John Mack (Museum of Mankind) thinks 'much more likely to be the ceremonial wear of a priest or healer ... where there is no single and uniform style' [December 1985].
Added Card Catalogue entry - Ref. Wood, J.G. 1874, Natural History: Africa p. 522 and illustration. 'A headdress of remarkable beauty was brought from this tribe by Mr Petherick and is now in the collection of Colonel Lane Fox. It is white, in imitation of the white clay with which the head is usually decorated and is made of cylindrical beads shaped as if they were pieces of tobacco pipe. These beads, or bugles as they ought perhaps to be called, are threaded on string, and fastened together in a very ingenious manner. The singular point of this head-dress is the exact resemblance to the soldier's casque of ancient Egypt and to the helmets now in use in India and other parts of the world' [info provided by Margret Carey, Jan. 1986].
[Insert, red] See RDF [end insert], [insert, black] See 'Primitive Warfare' descr. of plates VI-XI no. 22 in 'Evolution of Culture', 1906: 85 [end insert] [RTS 23/7/2004].
Added Accession Book IV entry [p. 83] - 1884.32.3 Number given. LMC. See notes on cards. [red biro] A11-F23-4. [p. opposite 83] - [Drawing].
Black book entry [p. 4] - 78. Helmet, cylindrical white beads. Worn by the Nou a er on both sides of the Nile from 8˚ to 10˚ N. latitude. Similar in form to the Ancient Egyptian. Obtained by Con'l Petherick (129). [insert] 1884.32.3 [end insert].
Delivery Catalogue II entry [p. 260] - Hats and Helmets Contd., Helmet, cylindrical beads, with neck guard, Nile, 129, Upper Screen 2, 312 & 313.
Pitt Rivers Catalogue Entry (1874) [p. 24] - Screen 4. [p. 26] NORTH ARCH. HEAD-DRESSES AND HELMETS FROM DIFFERENT LOCALITIES. [p. 27] 129. HELMET of cylindrical white beads, with neck-guard at back, worn by Nouaer on both sides of the Nile, from 8-10˚ N Latitude. Similar in form to the ancient Egyptian head-dress. Obtained by Mr Petherick [see Journal of the Royal United Service Journal, vol iv. no. xiii].
Card Catalogue Entry [tribes] - As Accession Book.
Added Card Catalogue entry - Unlikely to be defensive helmet: John Mack (Museum of Mankind) thinks 'much more likely to be the ceremonial wear of a priest or healer ... where there is no single and uniform style' [December 1985].
Added Card Catalogue entry - Ref. Wood, J.G. 1874, Natural History: Africa p. 522 and illustration. 'A headdress of remarkable beauty was brought from this tribe by Mr Petherick and is now in the collection of Colonel Lane Fox. It is white, in imitation of the white clay with which the head is usually decorated and is made of cylindrical beads shaped as if they were pieces of tobacco pipe. These beads, or bugles as they ought perhaps to be called, are threaded on string, and fastened together in a very ingenious manner. The singular point of this head-dress is the exact resemblance to the soldier's casque of ancient Egypt and to the helmets now in use in India and other parts of the world' [info provided by Margret Carey, Jan. 1986].
[Insert, red] See RDF [end insert], [insert, black] See 'Primitive Warfare' descr. of plates VI-XI no. 22 in 'Evolution of Culture', 1906: 85 [end insert] [RTS 23/7/2004].
Display History:
According to Chapman, this was displayed at the United Services Institute by John Petherick when he gave a paper in 1861 (Chapman, W.R., 1981, Ethnology in the Museum: A.H.L.F.
Pitt Rivers (1827-1900) and the Institutional Foundations of British Anthropology.
Unpublished PhD, University of Oxford, pp 94-5); its not clear where Chapman got this information from, however. Displayed in Bethnal Green and South Kensington Museums (V&A).
[AP]
Publication History:
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, p.
8, "[Lot] 102.
A very singular helmet of cylindrical white beads (Nouaer)".
J.G.
Wood, 1868, The Natural History of Man Volume I, figure on p.
52. M.
Carey discusses this headdress in Beads and Beadwork of East and South Africa (Shire Ethnography 1986, p.
21 and fig.
7).
[AP]
