Moru finger ring

Moru finger ring
Other views of this artifact:


Accession Number:
1934.8.36
Country:
Sudan
Region:
[Southern Sudan] Azumvuba
Cultural Group:
Moru
Date Made:
By 1933
Materials:
Brass Metal
Process:
Hammered , Decorated , Punched , Polished
Dimensions:
Outer L = 26 mm, outer W = 25 mm, inside dimensions 22 x 21 mm; W band = 3 mm, Th band = 2.1 mm [RTS 27/5/2004].
Weight:
3.2 g
Local Name:
mobwanda
Other Owners:
Collected by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton and his wife on 26th April 1933 during a shooting expedition.
Field Collector:
Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton & Hannah Powell-Cotton (nee Brayton)
PRM Source:
Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton
Acquired:
Donated 1934
Collected Date:
26th April 1933
Description:
Penannular brass finger ring made from a narrow bar with triangular section, bent into an almost circular loop with open ends, 1 mm apart. One of these ends has been cut flat, the other looks to have been pinched. The inner face of the ring is flat, and the outer face has a slight ridge running around the centre. This surface has been decorated by punching a series of depressions on either side of this ridge, forming a chevron design. The ring is complete and intact, currently a metallic yellow colour (Pantone 873C), and the surface has been polished. It measures 26 by 25 mm across its outer edges, and 22 by 21 mm across its inside edges; the decorated band is 3 mm wide, and 2.1 thick, with a weight of 3.2 grams.

Collected by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton and his wife Hannah at Azumvuba on 26th April 1933 during a shooting expedition. Azumvuba is thought to be located near the town of Mongalla. The Moru name for this type of object is given as
mobwanda.

Currently on display in the Lower Gallery, case 99A.

Rachael Sparks 6/9/2005.

Primary Documentation:
Accession Book Entry [p. 248] 1934 [insert] 8 [end insert] - MAJOR P. H. G. POWELL-COTTON , Quex Park, Birchington, E. Kent. Specimens collected by himself & Mrs Cotton, during hunting trips, 1933, viz: [...] [p. 250] From the MORU tribe, MONGALLA & AZUMVUBA [insert] 36 [end insert] - Brass finger-ring, mobwanda , AZUMVUBA (854).

Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the tribes catalogue card [RTS 2/6/2004].

Old Pitt Rivers Museum label - Mobwanda ring. MORU tribe, AZUMVUBA, E. SUDAN (854) d.d. Powell-Cotton 1934 [tied to object, RTS 27/5/2004].

Related Documents File - Typewritten List of "Curios Presented to Dr. Balfour by Major & Mrs. Powell-Cotton. Moru Tribe". This object appears as item 854: "1 brass ring, native name Mobwanda , 26/4/33 Azumvooba, 5.17 N 30.13 E". Also contains details of a cine film 'some tribes of the Southern Sudan', taken by Powell-Cotton during this 1933 expedition, copies of which are now in the National Film and Television Archive and the Powell-Cotton Museum in Kent [RTS 14/3/2005].



 
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