Beaded tassel ornament
Other views of this artifact:
Accession Number:
1896.5.2
Country:
Sudan
Region:
[White Nile]
Date Made:
By 1850
Materials:
Iron Metal , Animal Hide Skin , Bead
Process:
Hammered , Plaited , Strung , ?Dyed
Dimensions:
Total L = 610 mm, W tassel strips = 3 mm, Diam beads = 4 mm, Th beads = 2 to 4 mm [RTS 7/4/2004].
Weight:
40.1 g (including modern string)
Other Owners:
Mansfield Harry Isham Parkyns (possibly purchased from Nicola Ulivi)
Field Collector:
Mansfield Harry Isham Parkyns
PRM Source:
Mrs Nash
Acquired:
Donated 10 February 1896
Collected Date:
December 1842 - 1850 (see notes)
Description:
An ornament, or possibly part of an ornament comprising several thin strands of hide twisted together to form a string, on which 147 cylindrical iron beads have been threaded.
Each bead is made from sheet iron rolled into a short cylinder with a seam along one side; these vary from 2 to 4 mm in thickness and have a diameter of around 4 mm.
The upper end is currently loose (compare with the plaited loop end of similar bead string, 1884.76.27); the other end has a series of 16 hide strips doubled over to form a long tassel that is fastened to the base of the string by a loop at its top.
The strips are reddish brown, and may have been dyed (Pantone 174C-175C).
The object is broken at the upper end, and some of the tassel strips are incomplete; the iron beads are covered in a small layer of reddish brown rust.
The total length of the object is 601 mm, while the tassel has a length of 94 mm by itself, and each strip is 3 mm in width.
The piece weighs 40.1 grams, including a small length of modern string that has been tied around the loose end to prevent the beads slipping off.
It is not clear whether this bead string was originally used to adorn people or animals.
Collected by Mansfield Parkyns, who was in Egypt from December 1842 to 1843, in Abyssinia between 1843 and 1846, and in the Sudan between 1846 and 1848 (based at Khartoum, El Obeid, and living with the Kababish tribe from winter 1846 through all of 1847). He left El Obeid 24th January 1848, returning up the Nile to Cairo, then sailing back to England, which he reached in the summer of 1849. During these periods he collected manuscripts, birds and ethnographic material, with at least some of these probably obtained via Nicola Ulivi, an Italian naturalist and slave dealer who was operating out of Khartoum at this time. Parkyns attempted to send three collections of his material home, the first two while living in Abyssinia; the last of these was gathered in the White Nile and Nubia and consisted of 'about six hundred birds and about a ton weight of ... arms and implements'; this was sent from Egypt back to England and had arrived there by 1850 (G.O. Whitehead, 1940, Sudan Notes and Records XXIII , 131-138; R. Hill, 1967, “Parkyns, Mansfield Harry Isham”, A Biographical Dictionary of the Sudan , 2nd edition, p. 302, D. Cumming, 1987, The Gentleman Savage ).
Schweinfurth discusses the role that early iron beads had to play in the Southern Sudan, amongst groups like the Jur Luo: 'iron beads or perforated little cylinders of iron… were earlier in use than glass beads… In the Soudan these string of beads were principally made at Wandala, and Barth has specially notied them at Marhi. Every tribe which I visited in proceeding inland from the Gazelle I found to retain the preference for beads made of iron (G. Schweinfurth, 1873, In the Heart of Africa Vol. I, 203-4."
This object is very similar to 1896.5.3, from the same collector, and it is possible that these are two strings from a single piece. See also 1884.76.27, made of three strings of iron beads threaded onto leather and ending in leather tassels.
Rachael Sparks 30/9/2005.
Collected by Mansfield Parkyns, who was in Egypt from December 1842 to 1843, in Abyssinia between 1843 and 1846, and in the Sudan between 1846 and 1848 (based at Khartoum, El Obeid, and living with the Kababish tribe from winter 1846 through all of 1847). He left El Obeid 24th January 1848, returning up the Nile to Cairo, then sailing back to England, which he reached in the summer of 1849. During these periods he collected manuscripts, birds and ethnographic material, with at least some of these probably obtained via Nicola Ulivi, an Italian naturalist and slave dealer who was operating out of Khartoum at this time. Parkyns attempted to send three collections of his material home, the first two while living in Abyssinia; the last of these was gathered in the White Nile and Nubia and consisted of 'about six hundred birds and about a ton weight of ... arms and implements'; this was sent from Egypt back to England and had arrived there by 1850 (G.O. Whitehead, 1940, Sudan Notes and Records XXIII , 131-138; R. Hill, 1967, “Parkyns, Mansfield Harry Isham”, A Biographical Dictionary of the Sudan , 2nd edition, p. 302, D. Cumming, 1987, The Gentleman Savage ).
Schweinfurth discusses the role that early iron beads had to play in the Southern Sudan, amongst groups like the Jur Luo: 'iron beads or perforated little cylinders of iron… were earlier in use than glass beads… In the Soudan these string of beads were principally made at Wandala, and Barth has specially notied them at Marhi. Every tribe which I visited in proceeding inland from the Gazelle I found to retain the preference for beads made of iron (G. Schweinfurth, 1873, In the Heart of Africa Vol. I, 203-4."
This object is very similar to 1896.5.3, from the same collector, and it is possible that these are two strings from a single piece. See also 1884.76.27, made of three strings of iron beads threaded onto leather and ending in leather tassels.
Rachael Sparks 30/9/2005.
Primary Documentation:
Accession Book Entry
[p.
54] - 1896.
Feb.
10.
HON.
MRS NASH, 60 Elm Park Gardens, London, S.W.
Objects collected by Mr.
Mansfield Parkyns (the Abyssinian traveller) viz: [insert] 2-3 [end insert] 2 strings of iron beads (on leather), probably from White Nile region.
(v.
letter from Mrs.
Nash).
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the tribes catalogue card. [RTS 26/1/2004].
Pitt Rivers Museum label - IRON BEAD STRINGS. Probably from WHITE NILE region. CEN. AFRICA. obtd by Mr MANSFIELD PARKYNS. Presd by the Hon. Mrs Nash 1896 [label not kept with object but tied to 1896.5.3; RTS 7/4/2004].
Related Documents File - The accession book mentions a 'letter from Mrs Nash'. This is not stuck in the accessions book, nor is it in the RDF or collectors files. It may be stored with Balfour's correspondance [RTS 22/1/2004].
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the tribes catalogue card. [RTS 26/1/2004].
Pitt Rivers Museum label - IRON BEAD STRINGS. Probably from WHITE NILE region. CEN. AFRICA. obtd by Mr MANSFIELD PARKYNS. Presd by the Hon. Mrs Nash 1896 [label not kept with object but tied to 1896.5.3; RTS 7/4/2004].
Related Documents File - The accession book mentions a 'letter from Mrs Nash'. This is not stuck in the accessions book, nor is it in the RDF or collectors files. It may be stored with Balfour's correspondance [RTS 22/1/2004].
