Nuer toy figure
Other views of this artifact:
Accession Number:
1936.10.82
Country:
Sudan
Region:
[Southern Sudan]
Cultural Group:
Nuer
Maker:
Made by boys.
Date Made:
By 1936
Materials:
Clay , Pigment
Process:
Modelled , Dried , Painted
Dimensions:
Ht = 98, L = 128, W = 31.7 mm [RTS 5/10/2004].
Weight:
221.9 g
Other Owners:
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 28/9/2004].
Field Collector:
Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
PRM Source:
Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
Acquired:
Donated 1936
Collected Date:
1935 - 1936
Description:
Toy figure of a bull, hand made from a well levigated brownish gray clay with occasional small mica inclusions, dried in the sun (Pantone 7531C).
A small piece of grass appears to have become accidentally embedded in the fabric during manufacture.
It consists of a bull, made primarily from a single piece of clay with a schematic head pinched in slightly to form the muzzle, with two large tapering horns curving in an arc on either side.
The centre of the back has been pulled up to form an elongated, concave sided hump, with a concave back behind and a separate strip of clay hanging down to form the tail.
The body is slightly rounded, but flattens to the front where the chest is formed by a sharp angle running down towards the legs.
These are stylised lugs that fork from the clay to form two small points at front and back, which allow the figure to stand upright.
A pellet of clay has been applied between the back legs to form the bull's pizzle.
The surface of the figure has been smoothed, with white pigment painted or smeared over parts of the surface to simulate a variegated coloured hide.
This consists of a thick band running over the front chest, hump, and part of the face on both sides of the figure.
The figure is nearly complete, but the lower part of its tail and the tips of each horn has been broken off and is currently missing.
Part of one horn has also been reattached.
It has a weight of 221.9 grams, is 98 mm high, 128 mm long and 31.7 mm wide across the back legs.
This object was collected by Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard when he held a research fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust (see E.E. Evans-Pritchard, 1940, The Nuer ), either during May to July 1935, when he worked amongst the Nuer Lou and Eastern Jikany, or from October to November 1936, when he was working amongst the Karlual section of the Nuer Leek, in Western Nuerland (pers. comm. Chris Morton 2004).
These figures were made by boys, and played with by children of both sexes. Evans-Pritchard says of the Nuer that: “The games of rather older children of both sexes centre round cattle. They build byres of sand in camps and of moistened ashes or mud in villages, and fill the toy kraals with fine mud cows and oxen ... with which they play at herding and marriage” (E.E. Evans-Pritchard, 1940, The Nuer, p. 38). These types of figures are differentiated to show the sex of the animal, and often include details such as hide markings and decorative ornaments (see 1936.10.85-86). They are not confined to cattle, but include wild animals, such as giraffes (1936.10.91, 1936.10.71), lions (1937.34.73, 1937.34.78), buffalo (1937.34.77), and hedgehogs (1937.34.70), as well as people (1936.10.92-93, 1937.34.74-75).
For clay figures made by the Dinka, see S.L. Cummins 1904, "Sub-tribes of the Bahr-el-Ghazal Dinkas", JRAI 34, pp 160-161, and for a photograph of Shilluk children playing with a large group of such figures, see H.A. Bernatzik, 1929, Zwischen Weissem Nil und Belgisch-Kongo, fig. 137.
This object was published by J. Coote, in "‘Marvels of Everyday Vision’: The Anthropology of Aesthetics and the Cattle-Keeping Nilotes", J. Coote & A. Shelton (eds), Anthropology Art and Aesthetics, 1992, fig. 10.7 (centre). Coote comments that these figures are labelled Anuak, but are almost certainly all Nuer.
Currently on display in the Court, case 143A.
Rachael Sparks 18/9/2005.
This object was collected by Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard when he held a research fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust (see E.E. Evans-Pritchard, 1940, The Nuer ), either during May to July 1935, when he worked amongst the Nuer Lou and Eastern Jikany, or from October to November 1936, when he was working amongst the Karlual section of the Nuer Leek, in Western Nuerland (pers. comm. Chris Morton 2004).
These figures were made by boys, and played with by children of both sexes. Evans-Pritchard says of the Nuer that: “The games of rather older children of both sexes centre round cattle. They build byres of sand in camps and of moistened ashes or mud in villages, and fill the toy kraals with fine mud cows and oxen ... with which they play at herding and marriage” (E.E. Evans-Pritchard, 1940, The Nuer, p. 38). These types of figures are differentiated to show the sex of the animal, and often include details such as hide markings and decorative ornaments (see 1936.10.85-86). They are not confined to cattle, but include wild animals, such as giraffes (1936.10.91, 1936.10.71), lions (1937.34.73, 1937.34.78), buffalo (1937.34.77), and hedgehogs (1937.34.70), as well as people (1936.10.92-93, 1937.34.74-75).
For clay figures made by the Dinka, see S.L. Cummins 1904, "Sub-tribes of the Bahr-el-Ghazal Dinkas", JRAI 34, pp 160-161, and for a photograph of Shilluk children playing with a large group of such figures, see H.A. Bernatzik, 1929, Zwischen Weissem Nil und Belgisch-Kongo, fig. 137.
This object was published by J. Coote, in "‘Marvels of Everyday Vision’: The Anthropology of Aesthetics and the Cattle-Keeping Nilotes", J. Coote & A. Shelton (eds), Anthropology Art and Aesthetics, 1992, fig. 10.7 (centre). Coote comments that these figures are labelled Anuak, but are almost certainly all Nuer.
Currently on display in the Court, case 143A.
Rachael Sparks 18/9/2005.
Primary Documentation:
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] [insert] 82-90 [end insert] - [One of] 9 Figures of clay, representing bulls and cows (showing varieties of horn growth, colouring etc), made by boys & used as toys by boys and girls.
ANUAK
.
[pencil insert] ANUAK? [end insert] NUER.
Additional Accession Book Entry [p. 417, in red biro, with line relating these to records 1936.10.82-90] - A15.F36.5 [group shot], 68.18.34-35 [should be 68.18.31-32, shot of 1936.10.72 only, RTS 5/10/2004], PR 458Q, PR 117-118Q.
Card Catalogue Entry - Information as accession book entry, with additional handwritten data: [insert, red] A15.F36.5 PR 117-118Q [end insert], EASTERN SUDAN [ANUAK? covered in white-out, insert] NUER [end insert], [insert, black] These figures are labelled ANUAK but are almost certainly Nuer (info. from Jeremy Coote 1992). Jeremy Coote, "Marvels of Everyday Vision": The Anthropology of Aesthetics and the Cattle-Keeping Nilotes", in Jeremy Coote and Anthony Shelton (eds.), Anthropology, Art and Aesthetics (Oxford Studies in the Anthropology of Cultural Forms, 1), Oxford: Clarendon Press 1992. Copy in Research File - COOTE [RTS 23/7/2004].
Written on object - Toy bull. ANUAK, E. SUDAN. d.d. E. Evans-Pritchard, 1936 [RTS 5/10/2004].
Additional Accession Book Entry [p. 417, in red biro, with line relating these to records 1936.10.82-90] - A15.F36.5 [group shot], 68.18.34-35 [should be 68.18.31-32, shot of 1936.10.72 only, RTS 5/10/2004], PR 458Q, PR 117-118Q.
Card Catalogue Entry - Information as accession book entry, with additional handwritten data: [insert, red] A15.F36.5 PR 117-118Q [end insert], EASTERN SUDAN [ANUAK? covered in white-out, insert] NUER [end insert], [insert, black] These figures are labelled ANUAK but are almost certainly Nuer (info. from Jeremy Coote 1992). Jeremy Coote, "Marvels of Everyday Vision": The Anthropology of Aesthetics and the Cattle-Keeping Nilotes", in Jeremy Coote and Anthony Shelton (eds.), Anthropology, Art and Aesthetics (Oxford Studies in the Anthropology of Cultural Forms, 1), Oxford: Clarendon Press 1992. Copy in Research File - COOTE [RTS 23/7/2004].
Written on object - Toy bull. ANUAK, E. SUDAN. d.d. E. Evans-Pritchard, 1936 [RTS 5/10/2004].
Publication History:
This object was published by J.
Coote, in "‘Marvels of Everyday Vision’: The Anthropology of Aesthetics and the Cattle-Keeping Nilotes", J.
Coote & A.
Shelton (eds), Anthropology Art and Aesthetics, 1992, figure 10.7 (centre).
Coote comments that these figures are labelled Anuak, but are almost certainly all Nuer [RTS 2/3/2004].
