Dinka arm ornament
Other views of this artifact:
Accession Number:
1917.25.77
Country:
Sudan
Region:
[Southern Sudan] [White Nile]
Cultural Group:
Dinka
Date Made:
By 1917
Materials:
Elephant Tooth Ivory Animal
Process:
Carved , Polished
Dimensions:
L across outside edges = 118 mm, W across outside edges = 104.3 mm, Ht = 37.7 mm, th = 9 to 17 mm; inside edges 89 by 77 mm [RTS 1/6/2004].
Weight:
196.5 g
Other Owners:
Robert Grenville Gayer-Anderson, probably collected in the period immediately before World War I (1909-1914) [RTS 1/6/2004].
Field Collector:
Robert Grenville Gayer-Anderson
PRM Source:
Robert Grenville Gayer-Anderson
Acquired:
Donated 1917
Collected Date:
By 1917
Description:
Annular arm ornament, carved from a single piece of ivory, consisting of a broad flat inner face, and a convex outer face, creating a semicircular section.
It is irregularly oval in plan view, and has been polished both outside and in.
Although complete, the armlet is not well preserved, with numerous small surface cracks and two major cracks developing on opposite sides of the body.
One half of the inner face looks to have been severely weathered, and the smooth finished surface has been lost, exposing the rougher textured ivory body below.
The ivory varies in colour from a pale cream to a stronger yellow (Pantone 141C), with some discolouration on part of the outer face, possibly due to burning.
The armlet measures 118 by 104.3 mm across its outside edges, and 89 by 77 mm across its inside edges, with a height of 37.7 mm, and a thickness ranging from 9 to 17 mm.
It weighs 196.5 grams.
Collected by Robert Grenville Gayer-Anderson, probably between 1909 and 1914, in the period immediately before World War I, somewhere in the ‘White Nile’ region.
This object is said to be made from elephant ivory. Domville Fife suggested that ivory bangles were worn by Dinka men who had speared an elephant (C.W. Domville Fife, 1927, Savage Life in the Black Sudan, p. 129); he does not give any specifics as to the actual form of the armlet, but gives it the name afjok . This is probably the term that appears in Nebel as apiok, meaning an ivory armlet. An alternative term is given as atum (ivory, round) (Nebel 1979, Dinka-English Dictionary, p. 106).
Currently on display in the Upper Gallery, Case 26A.
Rachael Sparks 17/9/2005.
Collected by Robert Grenville Gayer-Anderson, probably between 1909 and 1914, in the period immediately before World War I, somewhere in the ‘White Nile’ region.
This object is said to be made from elephant ivory. Domville Fife suggested that ivory bangles were worn by Dinka men who had speared an elephant (C.W. Domville Fife, 1927, Savage Life in the Black Sudan, p. 129); he does not give any specifics as to the actual form of the armlet, but gives it the name afjok . This is probably the term that appears in Nebel as apiok, meaning an ivory armlet. An alternative term is given as atum (ivory, round) (Nebel 1979, Dinka-English Dictionary, p. 106).
Currently on display in the Upper Gallery, Case 26A.
Rachael Sparks 17/9/2005.
Primary Documentation:
Accession Book Entry
[VI, p.
54] - 1917 [pencil insert] 25 [end insert]
MAJOR R.G.
GAYER-ANDERSON
, R.A.M.C.
The Lodge, Old Marston, Oxon [pencil insert, p.
56] 77-82 [end insert] - [1 of] 6 Dinka armlets of elephant ivory, White Nile.
Additional Accession Book Entry [page opposite 54] - A gift to the Pitt Rivers Museum in memory of Major R.G. Gayer-Anderson, Pasha, his twin brother Colonel J.G. Gayer-Anderson, C.M.G., D.S.O. [page opposite 56] 1917.25.77-80 Nos given AP [red biro] A20 F10 21.
Card Catalogue Entry - The catalogue card repeats the accession book entry, as a group for the six armlets, but is annotated with three negative numbers: A20.F10.15, A20.F10.21 and A20.F10.23. It is not clear which number belongs with which object [RTS 9/3/2004].
Related Documents File - Two letters dated 30/03/1917 and 13/04/1917 from the donor to Henry Balfour regarding the donation of the collection to the museum [EB 12/11/2001]. These indicate that the material was collected by Robert Gayer-Anderson himself, chiefly from the areas of Nuba, Kordofan and Bahr el Ghazal during 5 years he spent in the Sudan, and that they were given to the museum as an unconditional gift [RTS 5/12/2003]. The note in the accession book calling this gift 'in memory of' R.G. Gayer-Anderson is therefore somewhat enigmatic, as both Robert and his twin brother (Thomas G., not J.G.) were alive at the time of the transfer [RTS 5/12/2003].
Written on object - DINKA armlet, WHITE NILE. d.d. Major R.G. Gayer Anderson. 1917.25.77 [RTS 1/6/2004].
Additional Accession Book Entry [page opposite 54] - A gift to the Pitt Rivers Museum in memory of Major R.G. Gayer-Anderson, Pasha, his twin brother Colonel J.G. Gayer-Anderson, C.M.G., D.S.O. [page opposite 56] 1917.25.77-80 Nos given AP [red biro] A20 F10 21.
Card Catalogue Entry - The catalogue card repeats the accession book entry, as a group for the six armlets, but is annotated with three negative numbers: A20.F10.15, A20.F10.21 and A20.F10.23. It is not clear which number belongs with which object [RTS 9/3/2004].
Related Documents File - Two letters dated 30/03/1917 and 13/04/1917 from the donor to Henry Balfour regarding the donation of the collection to the museum [EB 12/11/2001]. These indicate that the material was collected by Robert Gayer-Anderson himself, chiefly from the areas of Nuba, Kordofan and Bahr el Ghazal during 5 years he spent in the Sudan, and that they were given to the museum as an unconditional gift [RTS 5/12/2003]. The note in the accession book calling this gift 'in memory of' R.G. Gayer-Anderson is therefore somewhat enigmatic, as both Robert and his twin brother (Thomas G., not J.G.) were alive at the time of the transfer [RTS 5/12/2003].
Written on object - DINKA armlet, WHITE NILE. d.d. Major R.G. Gayer Anderson. 1917.25.77 [RTS 1/6/2004].
