Shilluk waist fringe

Other views of this artifact:

Accession Number:

1903.16.110

Country:

Sudan

Region:

[Southern Sudan] [Upper Nile]

Cultural Group:

Shilluk

Date Made:

By 1903

Materials:

Animal Hide Skin , ?Animal Leather Skin , ?Cotton Yarn Plant

Process:

Knotted , Looped , Tied

Dimensions:

L = 560 mm; L fringes = 228 mm, W tassel top = 3 to 4 mm, W tassel strips = 1 mm, diam cord = 2 mm [RTS 28/7/2004].

Weight:

150.7 g

Other Owners:

Collected by Donald Gunn in the Southern Sudan and presented to the Pitt Rivers Museum in 1903. Museum records do not give a specific provenance for this item, but Gunn appears to have collected Shilluk material from the ‘White Nile’, ‘Upper Nile’, Kodok

Field Collector:

Donald Gunn

PRM Source:

Donald Gunn

Acquired:

Donated 1903

Collected Date:

By 1903

Description:

Waist fringe, consisting of a yellowish brown cord (Pantone 7508C) formed from at least two strands of cotton fibre or possibly hide twisted together, onto which have been looped a series of tassels. Each tassel is made from five thin strips of dark brown animal hide, possibly leather (Pantone black 7C), gathered together and looped over the cord, before being secured at the base of each loop by wrapping a similar strip two to three times around the group then knotting the binding off, leaving the strips to hang freely below. Some of these hanging strips have been knotted along their lengths. The tassels are then arranged in two long sections - the first made up of 53 tassels, the second of 60 tassels. Each section has been sewn together with a double row of oblique hide stitches between the top of each loop and its bound base, with the stitching visible on one side of the fringe only. This stitching continues as an uninterrupted thread running between the two separate sections, but loosely, with a gap left between them. The supporting yellow cord has been secured with large knots at either end to prevent the fringes slipping off. Ties appear to have been created at each of these ends from short fragments of yellowish and slightly pink woven cloth strips (Pantone 7508C and 7515C). These may have originally been longer, as in its current length the fringe has a narrow diameter and would only fit around the waist of a child or small woman. The object is nearly complete, although some of the hide strips appear to have broken off, and the cloth ties may also be missing their ends. It has a weight of 150.7 grams, with a total length of 560 mm; the fringes are 228 mm long, with each individual tassel being from 3 to 4 mm wide across its top, and each individual strip having a width of only 1 mm. The cotton cord has a diameter of around 2 mm.

Collected by Donald Gunn in the Southern Sudan and presented to the Pitt Rivers Museum in 1903. Museum records give only the generic provenance of ‘Upper Nile’ for this item; Gunn appears to have collected Shilluk material from the ‘White Nile’, ‘Upper Nile’, Kodok and Bor, Nuer material from around Lake No, Dinka material from the ‘White Nile’ and Arab material from Omdurman.

This type of fringe was worn around the waist by women. For another Shilluk example, see 1903.16.111.

Rachael Sparks 18/9/2005.

Primary Documentation:

Accession Book Entry [III, p. 110] - 1903 [pencil insert] 16 [end insert] DR D. GUNN Esq., M.B. 40 Dover Street, London, W. June. [...] [p. 113] - The following from the Shilluk tribe, Upper Nile. viz: [pencil insert] 110-111 [end insert] - [1 of] 2 waist fringes of leather (women's).

Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the tribes catalogue card [RTS 23/7/2004].

Old Pitt Rivers Museum label - Woman's waist fringe, SHILLUK, UPPER NILE. d.d. Dr D. Gunn, 1903 [rectangular metal-edged tag, tied to object, RTS 13/7/2004].