Shilluk shrine of Nyakang

82 x 82 mm | Lantern slide glass

MountDimension:

82 x 82 mm

Date of Print:

Unknown

Previous Other Number:

V.c.9 (299)

Accession Number:

1967.26.127

Description:

Graphic designs painted on the exterior of the hut called Kwayo (Duwad) in which the Shilluk spirit of Nyakang, founder of the nation, was deemed to rest. The animal (including snake and others) and geometric designs on the exterior wall were made using white dots on a black base for aesthetic and perhaps by extension religious effect. The hut also had horns thrust into the earth near its entrance. The Seligmans were unclear as to any ritual or religious significance of the images.

Photographer:

Charles Gabriel Seligman

Date of Photo:

1910

Region:

[Southern Sudan] Upper Nile Fenikang

Group:

Shilluk

PRM Source:

London School of Economics and Political Science

Acquired:

Donated 1967

Other Owners:

C. G. Seligman slide collection

Class:

Religion , Settlement , Graphic Art

Keyword:

Shrine , Building Religious

Documentation:

Manual Catalogue in Related Documents File

Primary Documentation:

Accession Book Entry - [1967.26] THE LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE, HOUGHTON STREET, ALDWYCH, LONDON, W.C.E. PER MR ANTHONY FORGE - SUDAN. Box containing 309 lantern slides (3 1/4” x 3 1/4”) made from photographs taken by the late Professor C. G. SELIGMAN in various parts of the SUDAN. All slides numbered and labelled. Catalogue in file (“Seligman Slide Collection”). Additional Accession Book Entry - [in pencil] 18 Parks Rd.

Manual catalogue entry (thermofax catalogue copy in folder '27-06 Seligman Slide Collection') - "V.c.9. Shilluk shrine at Fenikang showing wall paintings"

Note on lantern slide ms ink - "V.c.9. Shilluk shrine at Fenikang showing wall paintings. 299"

Other Information:

In C.G. & B. Seligman's Pagan Tribes of the Nilotic Sudan (London, Routledge 1932), page 78, they mention that 'In 1910 we were told that one of the five huts of the Fenikang shrine was in a special sense the house of Nyakang, which he was thought to inhabit. It was distinguished by a number of very rough paintings on its outer wall, some of which could be recognised as representing animals, but we could not learn that the paintings had any special significance.' Another view of the Kwayo, Duwad hut (although not showing designs) is reproduced as Plate VIIIa (facing page 80) in C.G. & B. Seligman's Pagan Tribes of the Nilotic Sudan (London, Routledge 1932), with the caption "Fenikang, shrine of Nyakang in 1910, Kwayo (Duwad)"

Recorder:

Christopher Morton [11/10/2004] [Southern Sudan Project]