Bari headrest

1936.10.94

Sudan

[Southern Sudan] Bahr el Jebel Terakeka

Bari

By 1936

Wood Plant , Monitor Lizard Skin Reptile , Brass Metal , Paper Plant

Carved , Covered , Chequer Woven , Pyroengraved Pokerwork , Recycled , Polished

H = 262 mm, L [seat] = 285, W = 135, th = 17 mm, W [pedestal] = 127, Th = 39.8 mm; diam [plug] = 30 mm; diam [wire] = 1 mm; L [foot] = 168 mm, W = 62 mm [RTS 16/8/2004].

1250 g

This object was probably collected in 1935 or 1936, when Evans-Pritchard held a research fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust (see E.E. Evans-Pritchard, 1940, The Nuer) [RTS 23/8/2005].

Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard

Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard

Donated April 1936

1935 - 1936

Stool or headrest carved from a single piece of wood, and consisting of a narrow rectangular seat with concave sided ends and convex front and back edges. The upper surface is convex across the width of the seat, and concave across its length. A small circular copper or brass nail or stud with a flat head has been set into the centre of the upper surface near one end; this lies about 1.5 mm above the surface, and has a small circular depression at its centre. It does not continue through the width of the seat, and its purpose is unknown, as it does not appear to be structural. The sides and underside of the seat have been cut flat; there are some scorched linear grooves burnt into the edges of the latter in what appears to be a random fashion. A tall pedestal foot extends down from the centre of the underside; this has a flat front and back face and convex sides, and has been carved so that there is a rectangular fenestration running down the centre. 2 rows of 5 holes each have been bored through the pedestal body in a horizontal line - 1 across the top, and 1 across the base. The body was then covered with strips of monitor lizard skin. These have been bound horizontally around the body 17 times, with a series of vertical strips running down the front and back of the pedestal at right angles. There are 7 of these strips at the back and 6 strips down the front. Each strip passes through the holes at the top of the stem, runs vertically down the body where it has been woven in and out of the horizontal strips in a regular checkweave pattern, then passes back through the holes at the base of the stem where some strips appear to have been knotted. This creates a cover that runs across the fenestrated area, creating a closed compartment which could be used to store objects such as tobacco or money. Access into this compartment has been provided by a circular hole near the top on one side, with skin strips binding around its edge. The compartment hole has been plugged with a reused wooden cotton reel, cut roughly in half. This has a flat circular top that flares in to a broad cylindrical body; the lower part has been cut away leaving a roughly flat lower edge, with a circular hole running through the centre. There are traces of the original paper label stuck to the flat top surface, but any printed writing or design is now illegible, although there are traces of green. The reel has been secured to the stool with a piece of brass round sectioned wire, bent into a wide loop at one end then passed through the centre of the plug, before continuing down the front of the stool. This wire has been threaded in and out of the parallel holes running along the base and the top of the stem, to create a handle that is made of four wire strands, in addition to the strand holding the plug. At the base of this section, the pedestal has been carved to create a block base with a narrow flat upper edge, then two solid feet with flat sides that taper down and out to a flat base. These are rectangular in plan view. The stool is complete and intact; the wood is a warm orange brown colour (Pantone 7512C) and has been polished on the upper face of the seat. There are red ochre traces at the top of the pedestal, and some copper corrosion around the metal stud and wire. The lizard skin appears to have variant forms - some strips having larger rectangular surface scales and being predominantly yellow in colour (Pantone 7506C), and others with smaller, rounded scales where the underlying brown of the skin below the scales is predominant (Pantone 476C). These probably represent different parts of the reptile's body. The stool is 262 mm high and has a weight of approximately 1250 grams. The seat measures 285 by 135 mm, with a thickness of 17 mm; the pedestal is 127 mm wide and 39.8 mm thick; the plug has a diameter of 30 mm and the wire a diameter of 1 mm; the base measures 168 mm across both feet, and is 62 mm wide.

Collected by Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard at Terakeka in 1935 or 1936, when Evans-Pritchard held a research fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust (see E.E. Evans-Pritchard, 1940, The Nuer). He does not give the local name for the type.

This object is extremely similar to another Bari headrest stool collected by Evans-Pritchard, 1936.10.95. Other stools that incorporate similar internal body compartments include 1934.8.40 (Bari) and 1931.66.16 (Nuer).

It is currently on display in the Lower Gallery, Case 63A.

Rachael Sparks 23/08/2005.

Accession Book Entry [p. 410] - 1936 [insert] 10 [end insert] E. EVANS-PRITCHARD, M.A., Exeter College, Oxford. - Specimens collected by himself in the EASTERN SUDAN, while travelling with a Grant from the Rockefeller Leverhulme Trustees, viz: [p. 418] April [insert] 94-95 [end insert] - [One of] 2 wooden head-rest stools carved with two legs which are braced round with monitor-lizard skin, which forms a receptacle between the legs. BARI, TERRA KEKA, UPPER NILE (West bank).

Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the tribes catalogue card [RTS 12/2/2004].

Written on object - Head-rest stool, BARI, TERRA KEKA UPPER NILE (W. bank), d.d. E. Evans-Pritchard, 1936 [RTS 12/8/2004].

Current display label - BARI TERRAKEKA Upper Nile (west bank), d.d. Evans Pritchard 1936 [in case L.63.A, RTS 30/7/2004].