Dinka tobacco flask
Other views of this artifact:
Accession Number:
1934.8.19
Country:
Sudan
Region:
[Southern Sudan] ?Warab Fanamweir
Cultural Group:
Dinka
Date Made:
By 1933
Materials:
Ostrich Bone Bird , Animal Hide Skin , Animal Tail , ?Cotton Yarn Plant , String
Process:
Stitched , Twisted , Bound , Tied
Dimensions:
L = 290, W bone = 12, th bone = 11; base W = 25.5, base th = 23; L lid = 38, W lid = 15, th lid = 14.5 mm [RTS 19/10/2004].
Weight:
26.2 g
Other Owners:
Collected by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton and his wife on 3rd May 1933 during a shooting expedition
Field Collector:
Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton & Hannah Powell-Cotton (nee Brayton)
PRM Source:
Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton
Acquired:
Donated 1934
Collected Date:
3rd May 1933
Description:
Narrow tobacco container, made from an ostrich ulna (lower wing bone), presumably with the marrow removed to make a hollow cylinder.
This is a pale yellow colour (Pantone 7402C).
The bone itself is only partially visible, and consists of a long piece, triangular in section, that gradually tapers out to the lower end.
There are two rows of slightly raised lumps running along adjacent sides.
The upper, narrower end of the bone has been fitted with a hide lid.
This has been made from a cylindrical section of hide, presumably cut from the tail of an animal, with the top part compressed to close the cylinder and form a knob that is secured with a length of twisted 2 ply pale brown string (Pantone 7401C) - each strand being itself made up of 2 further strands twisted together.
This is woolly in texture, and may be European cotton yarn.
The string has been wrapped round the knob end several times, but leaving a short loop that could be used for suspension.
One end has been tied off, the other extends down and under the base of the lid.
The hide itself has been poorly prepared, and has numerous buff coloured hairs still present over the surface.
Two thirds down the length of the body, there is a second rectangular piece of hide bent around the circumference with the long sides almost touching, and fastened together with a row of stitches running down the join and knotted off at the base, using the same type of yarn.
A narrow strip of hide rests around the body below; this has also been cut from a tail section, as it has no seam.
The base of the container has been closed using another piece of hide, wrapped around the body and with its lower part folded across the opening and up the other side, with the edges stitched tightly together.
This piece fits closely to the shape of the bone and was probably moulded over the surface while wet; it is a dark reddish brown colour (Pantone 4625C), with tufts of buff and orange coloured hair are present along the edges.
The container appears to be complete and intact.
It has a weight of 26.2 grams, and is 290 mm long.
The lid has a length of 38 mm, is 15 mm wide and 14.5 mm thick; the string has a diameter of 0.7 mm; the bone is 12 mm wide and 11 mm thick over the exposed area, while the base of the container measures 25.5 by 23 mm.
Collected by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton and his wife Hannah at Fanamweir on 3rd May 1933, during a shooting expedition. They did not record the Dinka name for the type.
While this object may seem too narrow to be used as a tobacco container, it would appear that the Dinka used tobacco in powder, as well as leaf or cake form; Nebel, for example, lists a term juk tap, which he defines as a ‘container for powder tobacco (Bamboo-stick)', suggesting a similarly narrow vessel (Nebel 1979, Dinka-English Dictionary, p. 37). Tap, or tab, is both a Dinka and Nuer word meaning ‘tobacco’ (Nebel 1979, Dinka-English Dictionary, p. 81). For other types of Dinka tobacco container, see 1979.20.101, 1979.20.90 and 104 (matup tap) , 1934.8.82 (tiem tap) , and 1934.8.20 (guntab).
This object is currently on display in the Upper Gallery, case 26A.
Rachael Sparks 24/9/2005.
Collected by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton and his wife Hannah at Fanamweir on 3rd May 1933, during a shooting expedition. They did not record the Dinka name for the type.
While this object may seem too narrow to be used as a tobacco container, it would appear that the Dinka used tobacco in powder, as well as leaf or cake form; Nebel, for example, lists a term juk tap, which he defines as a ‘container for powder tobacco (Bamboo-stick)', suggesting a similarly narrow vessel (Nebel 1979, Dinka-English Dictionary, p. 37). Tap, or tab, is both a Dinka and Nuer word meaning ‘tobacco’ (Nebel 1979, Dinka-English Dictionary, p. 81). For other types of Dinka tobacco container, see 1979.20.101, 1979.20.90 and 104 (matup tap) , 1934.8.82 (tiem tap) , and 1934.8.20 (guntab).
This object is currently on display in the Upper Gallery, case 26A.
Rachael Sparks 24/9/2005.
Primary Documentation:
Accession Book Entry
[p.
248] 1934 [insert] 8 [end insert] -
MAJOR P.
H.
G.
POWELL-COTTON
, Quex Park, Birchington, E.
Kent.
Specimens collected by himself & Mrs Cotton, during hunting trips, 1933, viz: - From the
DINKA
tribe, FANAMWEIR & KORNUK, WHITE NILE [...] [p.
250] [insert] 19 [end insert] - Tobacco-flask made from the ulna of a large bird, FANAMWEIR (2367).
Additional Accession Book Entry [p. 249] - 1934.8.19 No given AP l[ength] = 302 mm [red biro] A20 F10 13.
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the catalogue card [RTS 5/4/2004].
Detailed Pipes [Unsorted] Card Catalogue entry - Number: 2367. Description: Tobacco flask made from the ulna of a bird. The lower half of the bone is sheathed with leather, sewn round in two separate portions, the top is closed by a leather cap, probably made from a section of a tail skin, the upper end constricted by a string binding. Length 28.5 cm, length of cap 3.8 cm. People: Dinka. Locality: Fanamweir ,White Nile, 8˚55'N 28˚42'E Collected by: Major Powell Cotton. How Acquired: dd 1934 [Drawing].
Related Documents File - Typewritten List of "Curios Presented to Dr. Balfour by Major & Mrs. Powell-Cotton. Dinka Tribe". This object appears as item 2367: "Ostrich wing bone tobacco box, 3/5/33 Fanamweir, 8.55 N, 28.42 E". Also contains details of a cine film 'some tribes of the Southern Sudan', taken by Powell-Cotton during this 1933 expedition, copies of which are now in the National Film and Television Archive and the Powell-Cotton Museum in Kent [RTS 14/3/2005].
Old Pitt Rivers Museum label [rectangular, metal edged] - Tobacco-flask made from the ulna of a bird. DINKA, FANAMWEIR, WHITE NILE, 8° 55' N, 28° 42' E. d.d. Major Powell-Cotton, 1934 (2367) [front], 1934.8.19 [back; label not kept with object, RTS 19/10/2004].
Written on object - 2367 [faint pencil, on surface of bone; RTS 19/10/2004].
Additional Accession Book Entry [p. 249] - 1934.8.19 No given AP l[ength] = 302 mm [red biro] A20 F10 13.
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the catalogue card [RTS 5/4/2004].
Detailed Pipes [Unsorted] Card Catalogue entry - Number: 2367. Description: Tobacco flask made from the ulna of a bird. The lower half of the bone is sheathed with leather, sewn round in two separate portions, the top is closed by a leather cap, probably made from a section of a tail skin, the upper end constricted by a string binding. Length 28.5 cm, length of cap 3.8 cm. People: Dinka. Locality: Fanamweir ,White Nile, 8˚55'N 28˚42'E Collected by: Major Powell Cotton. How Acquired: dd 1934 [Drawing].
Related Documents File - Typewritten List of "Curios Presented to Dr. Balfour by Major & Mrs. Powell-Cotton. Dinka Tribe". This object appears as item 2367: "Ostrich wing bone tobacco box, 3/5/33 Fanamweir, 8.55 N, 28.42 E". Also contains details of a cine film 'some tribes of the Southern Sudan', taken by Powell-Cotton during this 1933 expedition, copies of which are now in the National Film and Television Archive and the Powell-Cotton Museum in Kent [RTS 14/3/2005].
Old Pitt Rivers Museum label [rectangular, metal edged] - Tobacco-flask made from the ulna of a bird. DINKA, FANAMWEIR, WHITE NILE, 8° 55' N, 28° 42' E. d.d. Major Powell-Cotton, 1934 (2367) [front], 1934.8.19 [back; label not kept with object, RTS 19/10/2004].
Written on object - 2367 [faint pencil, on surface of bone; RTS 19/10/2004].
