Acholi arm or leg ornament
Other views of this artifact:
Accession Number:
1966.1.517 .1
Country:
Uganda? , Sudan?
Region:
[Southern Sudan?] Panikware?
Cultural Group:
Acholi
Date Made:
By 1st June 1912
Materials:
Iron Metal
Process:
Forged (Metal) , Hammered , Bent
Dimensions:
Ext. Diam = 74.2 x 72.2, Int. diam = 67 x 66; bar W = 4.3, bar th = 4 mm [RTS 21/7/2005].
Weight:
18.9 g
Other Owners:
Part of the collection of Frederick John Jackson, obtained on the 1st of June 1912, going on to become part of the Ipswich Museum collections, before being sold to the PRM in 1966 [RTS 30/6/2005].
Field Collector:
?Frederick John Jackson
PRM Source:
Ipswich Museum per Patricia M. Butler
Acquired:
Purchased 1966
Collected Date:
1st June 1912
Description:
Penannular arm or leg ornament, made from an iron bar with trapezoidal section, bent into a circular loop with overlapping ends.
The inside edge is irregular, flattened in some places and rounded in others, with some surface rust giving the metal a grayish brown colour (Pantone 440C).
Unlike several other rings in this group, this example does not appear to have any decorative notches cut into the inside faces of the ends although the surface is roughened at this point.
It is complete, with a weight of 18.9 grams.
The external diameter is 74.2 by 72.2 mm and the internal diameter measures 67 by 66 mm, while the bar from which this has been shaped is 4.3 mm wide and 4 mm thick.
This ring could have been worn on the upper arm, around the wrist or ankles; the suggestion that it was worn on the arm may be based on the fact that the ring is quite slender and of moderate diameter, but this is by no means a certainty. Several of the rings in this group are notched on the inside edges; this kind of notching was often used to help the owner arrange a group of ornaments in order, often of increasing diameter. Many Nilotic peoples wear multiple armlets or anklets in this fashion, including the Acholi (Trowell, M. & Wachsmann, K.P., 1953, The Tribal Crafts of Uganda, 216, as group wrist ornaments worn by women, and 219-220, worn around ankles and below the knee). Compare this also with other Acholi items from the Ipswich collection, 1966.1.518 - a multiple group of rings that are fastened together with bark fibre, and 1966.1.571, a neck ornament made of multiple iron rings fastened in a similar fashion.
The name Panikwar appears written on the handle of 1966.1.272, with a collection date of the 1st of June 1912 then the comment 'Jackson colln.', i.e: from Frederick John Jackson, who formed a collection of Acholi material while governor of Uganda, a post which he held from 1911 to 1917. This suggests that the other Acholi items in the Ipswich group associated with this name are also probably part of the Jackson collection. In 1922 C.G. Seligman recorded visiting somewhere called 'the Panikware resthouse' in what is now the district of Eastern Equatoria, around 12 miles from the Acholi village of Magwe. This makes it seem likely that Panikwar is a geographical place rather than a person's name. However the tendency for the same name to be used for different places within a region has been noticed in this part of Sudan, which may mean that Jackson's Panikware was not the same as that visited by the Seligmans [partly based on information collected by Fran Larson from the unpublished diaries of C.G. and B.Z. Seligman in the Archives of the London School of Economics (Seligman manuscripts, files 1/4/1 and 1/4/6)].
Rachael Sparks 29/7/2005.
This ring could have been worn on the upper arm, around the wrist or ankles; the suggestion that it was worn on the arm may be based on the fact that the ring is quite slender and of moderate diameter, but this is by no means a certainty. Several of the rings in this group are notched on the inside edges; this kind of notching was often used to help the owner arrange a group of ornaments in order, often of increasing diameter. Many Nilotic peoples wear multiple armlets or anklets in this fashion, including the Acholi (Trowell, M. & Wachsmann, K.P., 1953, The Tribal Crafts of Uganda, 216, as group wrist ornaments worn by women, and 219-220, worn around ankles and below the knee). Compare this also with other Acholi items from the Ipswich collection, 1966.1.518 - a multiple group of rings that are fastened together with bark fibre, and 1966.1.571, a neck ornament made of multiple iron rings fastened in a similar fashion.
The name Panikwar appears written on the handle of 1966.1.272, with a collection date of the 1st of June 1912 then the comment 'Jackson colln.', i.e: from Frederick John Jackson, who formed a collection of Acholi material while governor of Uganda, a post which he held from 1911 to 1917. This suggests that the other Acholi items in the Ipswich group associated with this name are also probably part of the Jackson collection. In 1922 C.G. Seligman recorded visiting somewhere called 'the Panikware resthouse' in what is now the district of Eastern Equatoria, around 12 miles from the Acholi village of Magwe. This makes it seem likely that Panikwar is a geographical place rather than a person's name. However the tendency for the same name to be used for different places within a region has been noticed in this part of Sudan, which may mean that Jackson's Panikware was not the same as that visited by the Seligmans [partly based on information collected by Fran Larson from the unpublished diaries of C.G. and B.Z. Seligman in the Archives of the London School of Economics (Seligman manuscripts, files 1/4/1 and 1/4/6)].
Rachael Sparks 29/7/2005.
Primary Documentation:
Accession Book Entry [XX]
[facing p.
1] - Collection 1966.1 is Ipswich ethnography; see special volumes XVA and XVB [JC 27/6/2001].
Accession Book Entry [Ipswich ethnography XVA] [p. 2] 1966.1[1-] P[urchased] Ethnological Collection; IPSWICH MUSEUM per Miss PATRICIA M. BUTLER, M.A. F.M.A. Curator. [p. 162] 1966.1.517.1 - .18 E. AFRICA, UGANDA, ACHOLI TRIBE. [1 of] 18 iron circular rings. Probably worn on the arm. 9 small notches on inside near opening. Panikwar Coll. 1st June 1912. [1966.1.517] .1 Diameter 7.3 cm. Diameter of iron .4 cm.
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the catalogue card [RTS 30/1/2004].
Pre-PRM label - O.H.M.S. [printed] Acholi. Necklet. Armlets. with burnisher. 1/6/12 fr[om]. Panikwar [long narrow brown tag with metal eyelet, probably a collectors label, and possibly belonging with 1966.1.571, 1966.1.517 and 1966.1.518; tied to 1966.1.571; RTS 21/7/2005].
Pitt Rivers Museum label - AFRICA, Uganda, Panikwar? ACHOLI tribe. Iron arm or leg ornaments. Purch. Ipswich museum. 1966.1.517.1-18 [plastic coated label, tied to group of objects; RTS 21/7/2005].
Accession Book Entry [Ipswich ethnography XVA] [p. 2] 1966.1[1-] P[urchased] Ethnological Collection; IPSWICH MUSEUM per Miss PATRICIA M. BUTLER, M.A. F.M.A. Curator. [p. 162] 1966.1.517.1 - .18 E. AFRICA, UGANDA, ACHOLI TRIBE. [1 of] 18 iron circular rings. Probably worn on the arm. 9 small notches on inside near opening. Panikwar Coll. 1st June 1912. [1966.1.517] .1 Diameter 7.3 cm. Diameter of iron .4 cm.
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the catalogue card [RTS 30/1/2004].
Pre-PRM label - O.H.M.S. [printed] Acholi. Necklet. Armlets. with burnisher. 1/6/12 fr[om]. Panikwar [long narrow brown tag with metal eyelet, probably a collectors label, and possibly belonging with 1966.1.571, 1966.1.517 and 1966.1.518; tied to 1966.1.571; RTS 21/7/2005].
Pitt Rivers Museum label - AFRICA, Uganda, Panikwar? ACHOLI tribe. Iron arm or leg ornaments. Purch. Ipswich museum. 1966.1.517.1-18 [plastic coated label, tied to group of objects; RTS 21/7/2005].
