Zande figure
Other views of this artifact:
Accession Number:
1932.30.14
Country:
Sudan
Region:
[Southern Sudan]
Cultural Group:
Zande
Date Made:
By 1932
Materials:
Wood Plant , Bark Cloth Textile Plant , Grass Fibre Plant , Brass Metal
Process:
Carved , Burnt , Pyroengraved Pokerwork , Twisted , Beaten , Recycled Tied
Dimensions:
H = 220 mm, W = 45.5 (across head), 58 mm (at elbows), 52 mm (at legs); th = 48 mm (top of head) [RTS 16/9/2004].
Weight:
147 g
Other Owners:
Charles Armine Willis worked for the Sudan Political Service from 1905 until 1931, and could presumably have obtained these objects at some time during this period [RTS 13/10/2004].
Field Collector:
Charles Armine Willis
PRM Source:
Charles Armine Willis
Acquired:
Donated 1932
Collected Date:
1905 - 1931?
Description:
Anthropomorphic figure carved from a single piece of wood in the form of a man, standing, facing to the front with arms bent at the elbows and placed on hips, legs positioned slightly apart and feet flat on the ground, facing forwards.
Face, neck, torso, legs and toes have been left the natural yellowish colour of the wood (Pantone 7507C).
The rest of the figure - back and top of head, shoulders, arms, hip area and feet, has been burnt black.
The figure has an elongated skull, with the upper part and back of the head carved to stand out from the face and neck, perhaps representing a hat or the figure's hair.
This part has been burnt black.
The front of this is decorated with a low relief crescent, with the points at the top, possibly reflecting Islamic influence; this has been left the natural colour of the wood.
The face below is oval and flat, with ears, eyes and nose standing out in relief from the surface.
The eyes stand out as raised blackened lentoids; the centres of these have been carved out and inlaid with two circular brass eyelets, probably European and recycled from shoes or clothing, with a circular blackened plug of wood at the centre to represent the pupil.
Facial details have been marked out using pyroengraved pokerwork - with blackened arcs for eyebrows, a simple upwardly curving mouth, and cicatrisation marks in the form of three vertical lines between the brows, and groups of three oblique lines on either cheek.
These must have been applied with a heated fine-bladed tool.
The neck and torso take the form of a simple cylinder, with the arms carved as two rectangular sectioned loops, with a sharp carination where they turn inwards again at the 'elbows'. These merge in with the pelvis and no hands or fingers are indicated. The hips have been carved as angular projections on either side of the body, with protruding male genitalia between. The legs are short and swell to their centre; the feet are large, with angular surfaces and flat undersides; they have been cut flat along the front edge, and toes are indicated by four vertical grooves down this surface. The figure has been dressed with a piece of rectangular dark brown fibrous barkcloth (Pantone 440C), doubled over at the back and passed between the legs and up to the waist on the other side; this is held in place with a short piece of twisted grass 2 ply cord, in a light yellowish brown colour (Pantone 7507C). The figure is complete and intact. It has a weight of 147 grams, is 220 mm high, with a width across the head of 45.5 mm, across the elbows of 58 mm, and across the legs of 52 mm; the head has a maximum thickness of 48 mm.
Collected by Charles Armine Willis, presumably sometime in the period from 1905 to 1931, when he worked for the Sudan Political Service. It is said to have come from somewhere in the Bahr el Ghazal area.
Willis also collected a similar figure of a woman, 1932.30.15; the two figures were probably carved by the same craftsman. S tylistic similarities between them include the treatment of the eyes; facial expression and cicatrisation marks; shape of the head, the way the hair/hat line stands out from the forehead as a flat bevelled surface, and projects as an angular flange from the back of the neck; the short swelling legs and the oddly angular feet. The treatment of the arms differs slightly and the figures have been made to different scales, so were probably not intended as a pair. Both were probably manufactured for sale to Europeans. Compare these with 1933.76.4-5, collected by Hooper in 1909. For similar types of figures, see W. Fagg, 1965, Tribes and Forms in African Art, p. 111 and E. Elisofon & W. Fagg, 1958 The Sculpture of Africa, figs 314-5.
According to Larken, Zande men and women both practised cicatrisation, but “the face is usually not touched, except where an individual has come into contact with Arabs and copied their habit in this direction” (P.M. Larken, 1926, "An Account of the Zande", Sudan Notes and Records IX no. 1, p. 31). This practice may have become more widespread since Larken's time, however, as most of the modelled human figures made by Mbitim (1996.53.1, 1934.8.133-135, 1950.12.117, 1928.67.4), or Zande woodcarvers (1928.67.4, 1932.30.14-15) are depicted with this kind of facial scarring.
Currently on display in the Lower Gallery, case 37A, number 13b.
Rachael Sparks 26/9/2005.
The neck and torso take the form of a simple cylinder, with the arms carved as two rectangular sectioned loops, with a sharp carination where they turn inwards again at the 'elbows'. These merge in with the pelvis and no hands or fingers are indicated. The hips have been carved as angular projections on either side of the body, with protruding male genitalia between. The legs are short and swell to their centre; the feet are large, with angular surfaces and flat undersides; they have been cut flat along the front edge, and toes are indicated by four vertical grooves down this surface. The figure has been dressed with a piece of rectangular dark brown fibrous barkcloth (Pantone 440C), doubled over at the back and passed between the legs and up to the waist on the other side; this is held in place with a short piece of twisted grass 2 ply cord, in a light yellowish brown colour (Pantone 7507C). The figure is complete and intact. It has a weight of 147 grams, is 220 mm high, with a width across the head of 45.5 mm, across the elbows of 58 mm, and across the legs of 52 mm; the head has a maximum thickness of 48 mm.
Collected by Charles Armine Willis, presumably sometime in the period from 1905 to 1931, when he worked for the Sudan Political Service. It is said to have come from somewhere in the Bahr el Ghazal area.
Willis also collected a similar figure of a woman, 1932.30.15; the two figures were probably carved by the same craftsman. S tylistic similarities between them include the treatment of the eyes; facial expression and cicatrisation marks; shape of the head, the way the hair/hat line stands out from the forehead as a flat bevelled surface, and projects as an angular flange from the back of the neck; the short swelling legs and the oddly angular feet. The treatment of the arms differs slightly and the figures have been made to different scales, so were probably not intended as a pair. Both were probably manufactured for sale to Europeans. Compare these with 1933.76.4-5, collected by Hooper in 1909. For similar types of figures, see W. Fagg, 1965, Tribes and Forms in African Art, p. 111 and E. Elisofon & W. Fagg, 1958 The Sculpture of Africa, figs 314-5.
According to Larken, Zande men and women both practised cicatrisation, but “the face is usually not touched, except where an individual has come into contact with Arabs and copied their habit in this direction” (P.M. Larken, 1926, "An Account of the Zande", Sudan Notes and Records IX no. 1, p. 31). This practice may have become more widespread since Larken's time, however, as most of the modelled human figures made by Mbitim (1996.53.1, 1934.8.133-135, 1950.12.117, 1928.67.4), or Zande woodcarvers (1928.67.4, 1932.30.14-15) are depicted with this kind of facial scarring.
Currently on display in the Lower Gallery, case 37A, number 13b.
Rachael Sparks 26/9/2005.
Primary Documentation:
Accession Book Entry
[p.
72] 1932 [insert, in pencil] 30 [end insert]
C.
ARMINE WILLIS,
Esq.
- Specimens collected by himself in the EASTERN SUDAN, viz.
[p.74, insert in pencil] 14-15 [end insert] - [One of] 2 Carved wooden human figures, [drawing male symbol] and [drawing female symbol], AZANDE.
Collected in 1932.
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the catalogue card [RTS 2/2/2004].
Written on object - AZANDE BAHR-EL-GAZAL. coll d . & pres. by C.A. Willis, 1932 [RTS 16/9/2004].
Related Documents File - This item appears on typewritten list RDF 1932.30.1-15, under list item 9: 'Two Azande figures, male and female, collected 1932'.
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the catalogue card [RTS 2/2/2004].
Written on object - AZANDE BAHR-EL-GAZAL. coll d . & pres. by C.A. Willis, 1932 [RTS 16/9/2004].
Related Documents File - This item appears on typewritten list RDF 1932.30.1-15, under list item 9: 'Two Azande figures, male and female, collected 1932'.
