Dinka arm ornament
Other views of this artifact:
Accession Number:
1934.8.27
Country:
Sudan
Region:
[Southern Sudan] ?Warab Kornuk
Cultural Group:
Dinka
Date Made:
By 1933
Materials:
Brass Metal
Process:
Cast , Hammered , Incised
Dimensions:
L = 71.7 mm, W = 64.8 mm, W band 62.8 mm, Th 4 to 7 mm [RTS 24/3/2004].
Weight:
511.7 g
Local Name:
lung
Other Owners:
Collected by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton and his wife on 25th 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:
25th May 1933
Description:
Penannular armlet consisting of a broad rectangular sectioned band bent into an oval loop with open ends, 14 mm apart.
These ends have been turned back on themselves to form thicker terminal bars.
The inside face is flat, and the outer face has been decorated with nine parallel grooves running around the circumference, creating ten raised ribs.
Powell-Cotton suggested that this object had been cast, and although this may be true for the original rectangular piece from which this object has been made, tool marks on the surface suggest that it was subsequently hammered into shape, with the grooves then chiselled into the surface.
The object is currently a shiny metallic yellow colour (Pantone 871C), with some green corrosion on the inner surfaces.
The armlet is 71.7 mm by 64.8 mm across its outer edges, and has a length of 63.5 mm between its inside edges; the band is 62.8 mm wide and from 4 to 7 mm thick.
It weighs 511.7 grams.
Collected by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton and his wife Hannah at Kornuk on 25th May 1933, during a shooting expedition. They recorded the Dinka name for this type of object as lung. Nebel defines Lung, plural luong as an ‘iron ring; iron bar’ (Nebel 1979, Dinka-English Dictionary, p. 53)
A similar armlet was published by Schweinfurth, and attributed to the Jur; this is said to have been cast and then the decoration chiselled in (G. Schweinfurth, Artes Africanae, pl. II fig. 3).
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 Kornuk on 25th May 1933, during a shooting expedition. They recorded the Dinka name for this type of object as lung. Nebel defines Lung, plural luong as an ‘iron ring; iron bar’ (Nebel 1979, Dinka-English Dictionary, p. 53)
A similar armlet was published by Schweinfurth, and attributed to the Jur; this is said to have been cast and then the decoration chiselled in (G. Schweinfurth, Artes Africanae, pl. II fig. 3).
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] 27 [end insert] -
Lung
, armlet of cast brass, penannular, ribbed, KORNUK (2766).
Additional Accession Book Entry [p. 249] - 1934.8.27 No given AP h[eight] = 65 mm w[idth] = 75 mm.
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the catalogue card [RTS 9/3/2004].
Related Documents File - Typewritten List of "Curios Presented to Dr. Balfour by Major & Mrs. Powell-Cotton. Dinka Tribe". This object appears as item 2766: "Bracelet, heavy brass coiled, native name Lung , 25/5/33 Kornuk, 7.53 N 28.9 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] - Lung , armlet. DINKA, KORNUK, WHITE NILE, 7° 53' N., 28° 9' E. d.d. Major Powell-Cotton, 1934 (2766) [front], 1934.8.27 [back; RTS 24/3/2004].
Additional Accession Book Entry [p. 249] - 1934.8.27 No given AP h[eight] = 65 mm w[idth] = 75 mm.
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the catalogue card [RTS 9/3/2004].
Related Documents File - Typewritten List of "Curios Presented to Dr. Balfour by Major & Mrs. Powell-Cotton. Dinka Tribe". This object appears as item 2766: "Bracelet, heavy brass coiled, native name Lung , 25/5/33 Kornuk, 7.53 N 28.9 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] - Lung , armlet. DINKA, KORNUK, WHITE NILE, 7° 53' N., 28° 9' E. d.d. Major Powell-Cotton, 1934 (2766) [front], 1934.8.27 [back; RTS 24/3/2004].
