Anuak flask

Other views of this artifact:

Accession Number:

1936.10.76

Country:

Sudan

Region:

[Southern Sudan]

Cultural Group:

Anywaa [Anuak]

Date Made:

By 1936

Materials:

Gourd Plant , Plant Fibre

Process:

Hollowed , Dried , Perforated , Twisted , Tied

Dimensions:

Ht with cord = 190 mm, without = 130 mm, Max Diam neck = 21.6 mm, Min Diam neck = 12.8 mm, W body = 56.5 mm, Th body = 54.8 mm, diam holes = 1 mm, diam cord = 1 mm (single strand), 2 mm (multiple strand), L lid = 14.5 mm, W lid = 13.5 mm, th lid = 1 mm [R

Weight:

9.4 g

Local Name:

nyagwei

Other Owners:

Presumably collected by Evans-Pritchard during his period of fieldwork amongst the Anuak between early March and May 1935 [RTS 18/6/2004].

Field Collector:

Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard

PRM Source:

Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard

Acquired:

Donated 1936

Collected Date:

March - May 1935

Description:

Small gourd with the narrow top cut flat, a long narrow neck that swells out convexly at the top, then becomes virtually straight below, and a globular body with convex base. The surface is a dark red colour (Pantone 476C) with some curving lighter red bands dividing the lower body into segments (Pantone 470C). A small, roughly circular flat disc of gourd has been cut to shape, slightly larger than the gourd neck, and serves as a lid. This has been pierced by four small holes, forming a rectangle. There are a further four circular holes bored into the neck near the rim. These have been used to fasten the lid in place over the vessel mouth, by threading twisted plant fibre through the neck holes, then passing the cord up through the underside of the lid, with the four separate strands then knotted on the top and twisted together to form a single cord extending up above the lid. The ends of this have not been secured, and are beginning to unravel. The object is complete, but the gourd has a small hole in its body, with a large crack running away from this on either side; the cord surface looks to have been darkened from its original colour, and is currently a dark brown (Pantone black 4C). It has a height of 190 mm, including the cord, and 130 mm from the top of the lid to the base of the gourd. The lid is 14.5 mm long, 13.4 mm wide and 1 mm thick. The gourd neck has a diameter of 21.6 mm at its broadest point, and 12.8 mm at its most narrow part; the body measures 56.5 by 54.8 mm. The holes through the gourd body have a diameter of 1 mm; the individual cord strands have diameters of 1 mm, while the thicker cord segment has a diameter of 2 mm. The gourd and its lid weigh 9.4 grams in total.

Collected by Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard during his period of fieldwork amongst the Anuak between early March and May 1935 (see E.E. Evans-Pritchard, 1940, The Political System of the Anuak of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, p. 3). This type of object was used as a container for castor oil or cosmetics, and is known locally as nyagwei . For a similar Anuak flask, see 1936.10.75.

Rachael Sparks 17/8/2005.

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. 416] [insert] 75-76 [end insert] - [One of] 2 Small bottle-gourd flasks, nyagwei , for castor-oil or cosmetics, ANUAK.
Additional Accession Book Entry [p. 415] - 1936.10.75-76 numbers given L.W.

Card Catalogue Entry - The card repeats the information given in the accession book, with inserted information: 'l[ength] = 13.2 cm, short leather thong attached to bottom' and in red biro, 'A2-F33-5' [RTS 30/1/2004].

Pitt Rivers Museum label - E.SUDAN, ANUAK. nyagwei , gourd for castor oil and cosmetics. dd. E.Evans Pritchard 1936.10.76 [Plastic label with metal eyelet, stored in RDF; RTS 19/5/2005].