Dinka clapper bell
Accession Number:
1884.108.11
Country:
Sudan
Region:
[Southern Sudan]
Cultural Group:
Dinka
Date Made:
?Before 1858
Materials:
Iron Metal
Process:
Forged (Metal) , Hammered , Twisted , Bent
Dimensions:
Suspension loop diam = 23, W = 3.3, th = 2.5 mm; bell body L = 91, diam loop = 11.5, loop W = 2.9, th = 2.5; bell mouth diam = 25 by 22, th wall = 1; clapper extends 14 mm below bell mouth [RTS 21/2/2005].
Weight:
213.6 g (weight with 1884.108.10 & 12)
Other Owners:
Collected by John Petherick, probably in 1858 and shipped back to England in 1859. Subsequently acquired by Pitt Rivers, probably at the auction of Petherick's material conducted by Mr Bullock of High Holborn, London, on 27th June 1862, as part of lot 42
Field Collector:
John Petherick
PRM Source:
Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers founding collection
Acquired:
Donated 1884
Collected Date:
?1858
Description:
Clapper bell made in 3 pieces with separate suspension loop, bell body and hanging clapper.
The suspension loop consists of a square sectioned iron rod with twisted body, bent into a circular loop with the ends almost touching; one end is cut straight, while the other has been curled over into a spiral.
The bell has been formed from a single piece of iron, hammered into a flat sheet, with the long ends bent around to touch each other near their lower edges.
This creates an elongated, cylindrical body, with an open seam running down one side, gradually narrowing towards the base where the metal edges finally touch.
At the top of the bell, this sheet thickens to become a narrow tongue of iron, hammered flat at first but then becoming roughly round in section, that doubles over to form a simple loop that attaches to the suspension ring.
The lower part of this tongue turns down on the other side and presses back against the bell body, fitting into the upper part of the seam to pass into the bell interior.
This is curled over to form a loop at its base, from which the clapper may be hung.
The clapper is a separate piece of iron, bent into a loop at its top, then tapering out to form a body that is first round, then more rectangular in section.
This has a roughly cut lower edge.
The object is complete and intact, but has traces of surface rust, making the original silvery gray colour of the metal turn reddish brown (Pantone 7519C).
The suspension loop, which is shared with objects 1884.108.10 and 12, has a diameter of 23 mm, and is 3.3 mm wide and 2.5 mm thick.
The bell body is 91 mm long, and measures 11.5 across the upper loop, with the rod itself being 2.9 by 2.5 mm wide at that point, while the bell mouth is 25 mm wide and 22 mm deep, with a wall thickness of 1 mm.
The clapper extends 14 mm below the base of the bell mouth.
The group of bells that includes this object has a combined weight of 213.6 grams.
Collected by John Petherick in 1858 ; in that year Petherick led a trading expedition south from Khartoum, down the Bahr el Abiad, Bahr el Ghazal, Jur and part of the Bahr el Jebel rivers. This route took him through Raik Dinka territory in January 1858 (the villages of Coq-quel-a-ken, Moi Chin, Agoig, Affoock). An account of this expedition is given in his 1861 volume, Egypt, The Sudan and Central Africa; there he mentions Arabs trading cattle-bells to the Shilluk (p. 351) . Material from this expedition was shipped back to England in 1859. The bell was s ubsequently acquired by Pitt Rivers, probably at the auction of Petherick's material conducted by Mr Bullock of High Holborn, London, on 27th June 1862, as part of lot 42 '3 cattle bells (Dinka)' (see the Catalogue of the very interesting collection of arms and implements of war, husbandry, and the chase, and articles of costume and domestic use, procured during several expeditions up the White Nile, Bahr-il-Gazal, and among the various tribes of the country, to the cannibal Neam Nam territory on the Equator, by John Petherick, Esq., H.M. Consul, Khartoum, Soudan ). Pitt Rivers sent this object to Bethnal Green Museum for display, as part of the first batch of objects sent there, probably in 1874. It was also displayed in the South Kensington Museum, and transferred from there to become part of the founding collection of the Pitt Rivers Museum in 1884.
This bell is illustrated together with 1884.108.10 on p. 11 of John Petherick's unpublished sketchbook; 1884.108.12 appears to have been added onto the group at a later stage, as it appears by itself on the same page. This sketchbook is now in the Wellcome Library, MS 5789.
A similar bell was collected by Samuel Powell (1940.7.0339), while a comparable example is also known from Kiga in Uganda (see M. Trowell & K.P. Wachsmann, 1953, Tribal Crafts of Uganda, pl. 77H and p. 326, and note 1, where they cite the Pitt Rivers Museum bell).
Rachael Sparks 19/9/2005.
Collected by John Petherick in 1858 ; in that year Petherick led a trading expedition south from Khartoum, down the Bahr el Abiad, Bahr el Ghazal, Jur and part of the Bahr el Jebel rivers. This route took him through Raik Dinka territory in January 1858 (the villages of Coq-quel-a-ken, Moi Chin, Agoig, Affoock). An account of this expedition is given in his 1861 volume, Egypt, The Sudan and Central Africa; there he mentions Arabs trading cattle-bells to the Shilluk (p. 351) . Material from this expedition was shipped back to England in 1859. The bell was s ubsequently acquired by Pitt Rivers, probably at the auction of Petherick's material conducted by Mr Bullock of High Holborn, London, on 27th June 1862, as part of lot 42 '3 cattle bells (Dinka)' (see the Catalogue of the very interesting collection of arms and implements of war, husbandry, and the chase, and articles of costume and domestic use, procured during several expeditions up the White Nile, Bahr-il-Gazal, and among the various tribes of the country, to the cannibal Neam Nam territory on the Equator, by John Petherick, Esq., H.M. Consul, Khartoum, Soudan ). Pitt Rivers sent this object to Bethnal Green Museum for display, as part of the first batch of objects sent there, probably in 1874. It was also displayed in the South Kensington Museum, and transferred from there to become part of the founding collection of the Pitt Rivers Museum in 1884.
This bell is illustrated together with 1884.108.10 on p. 11 of John Petherick's unpublished sketchbook; 1884.108.12 appears to have been added onto the group at a later stage, as it appears by itself on the same page. This sketchbook is now in the Wellcome Library, MS 5789.
A similar bell was collected by Samuel Powell (1940.7.0339), while a comparable example is also known from Kiga in Uganda (see M. Trowell & K.P. Wachsmann, 1953, Tribal Crafts of Uganda, pl. 77H and p. 326, and note 1, where they cite the Pitt Rivers Museum bell).
Rachael Sparks 19/9/2005.
Primary Documentation:
Accession Book V entry
[p.
45]
-
[insert] 1884.108 Numbers begining with 18...
(4 figures) are
black
series) [end insert]
MUSIC PERCUSSION
[insert] From H.B's written book catalogues except those marked X [end insert] BELLS [insert] 10-12 [end insert] 1860 - [1 of] 3 small iron bells, not welded; upper end prolonged & bent round in a loop.
DINKA, C.
AFRICA
CA Petherick coll.
c 1858.
Collectors Miscellaneous XI Accession Book entry - [p. 193] - PETHERICK, Consul [p. 197] [insert] 1884.108.10-12 [end insert]. 1860. 3 small iron bells. DINKA. C[ENTRAL] A[FRICA].
Black book entry [p. 81] - 1860. Iron cattle bells (3). DINKA tribe, Africa. Obtd by Petherick in 1858. [insert] 1884.108.10-12 [end insert].
Delivery Catalogue II entry [p. 215] - Glazed case bells etc. 1884.108.10-12. 3 bells. Central Africa. Iron, for cattle [screen?] 80 [case?] 266.
Balfour Catalogue: Red numbers Musical Instruments - [p. 2] 129. MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS - PERCUSSION. [p. 157] L - BELLS (SWINGING CLAPPERS) [p. 164] P.R. coll. 1860 [insert] black [end insert]. [1 of] 3 small iron bells, each made from single piece of flat iron bent over on itself longitudinally - edges not welded together - upper end drawn out to a point, bent round to form a loop & also to support the swinging clapper inside. [insert] 1884.108.10-12 [end insert]. Dinka, Central Africa. obt[aine]d by Consul Petherick c. 1858. [insert] P.R.V.45, Coll. Misc. XI, 197 [end insert].
Card Catalogue Entry - CENTRAL AFRICA, DINKA. Three small iron bells each from a single piece of flat iron bent over on itself longitudinally, edges not welded; upper end drawn out to a point, bent round to form a loop and also to support the swinging clapper inside. Coll. Consul Petherick, c. 1858. Original Pitt Rivers collection [for 1884.108.10-12; RTS 4/3/2004].
Pre-PRM label - 1860 [rectangular paper tag, originally tied to group of objects with wire; stored in RDF RTS 17/2/2005].
Written on object - 129.L.8 [red ink, partially worn away; RTS 17/2/2005].
Collectors Miscellaneous XI Accession Book entry - [p. 193] - PETHERICK, Consul [p. 197] [insert] 1884.108.10-12 [end insert]. 1860. 3 small iron bells. DINKA. C[ENTRAL] A[FRICA].
Black book entry [p. 81] - 1860. Iron cattle bells (3). DINKA tribe, Africa. Obtd by Petherick in 1858. [insert] 1884.108.10-12 [end insert].
Delivery Catalogue II entry [p. 215] - Glazed case bells etc. 1884.108.10-12. 3 bells. Central Africa. Iron, for cattle [screen?] 80 [case?] 266.
Balfour Catalogue: Red numbers Musical Instruments - [p. 2] 129. MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS - PERCUSSION. [p. 157] L - BELLS (SWINGING CLAPPERS) [p. 164] P.R. coll. 1860 [insert] black [end insert]. [1 of] 3 small iron bells, each made from single piece of flat iron bent over on itself longitudinally - edges not welded together - upper end drawn out to a point, bent round to form a loop & also to support the swinging clapper inside. [insert] 1884.108.10-12 [end insert]. Dinka, Central Africa. obt[aine]d by Consul Petherick c. 1858. [insert] P.R.V.45, Coll. Misc. XI, 197 [end insert].
Card Catalogue Entry - CENTRAL AFRICA, DINKA. Three small iron bells each from a single piece of flat iron bent over on itself longitudinally, edges not welded; upper end drawn out to a point, bent round to form a loop and also to support the swinging clapper inside. Coll. Consul Petherick, c. 1858. Original Pitt Rivers collection [for 1884.108.10-12; RTS 4/3/2004].
Pre-PRM label - 1860 [rectangular paper tag, originally tied to group of objects with wire; stored in RDF RTS 17/2/2005].
Written on object - 129.L.8 [red ink, partially worn away; RTS 17/2/2005].
Display History:
Displayed in Bethnal Green and South Kensington Museums (V&A)[AP] Current Exhibition Label - CENTRAL AFRICA, DINKA Three small sheet iron bells.
Original Pitt Rivers Collection.
1884.108.10-12.
Publication History:
M.
Trowell & K.P.
Wachsmann, 1953, Tribal Crafts of Uganda, p.
326, note 1, cite this bell and 1884.108.10 and 12 as a comparison to a set from Kiga (giving it a reference of 'No.
129-L.8') [RTS 5/9/2005].
