Lotuko lip plug
Other views of this artifact:
Accession Number:
1934.8.79
Country:
Sudan
Region:
[Southern Sudan] Eastern Equatoria Loronyo
Cultural Group:
Lotuko [Otuho]
Date Made:
By 1933
Materials:
Wood Plant
Process:
Carved
Dimensions:
L = 17.5 mm, W = 16.3 mm, Ht = 15.5 mm [RTS 10/5/2004].
Weight:
1.8 g
Local Name:
leboito
Other Owners:
Collected by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton and his wife on 17th April 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:
17th April 1933
Description:
Small wooden lip plug carved from a single piece of wood and consisting of a flat upper and lower surface with short, straight sided cylindrical body; the plug is slightly oval in plan view.
The original colour of the wood appears to be a light brown (Pantone 464C), that has been stained a dark brown all over (Pantone black 4C).
The plug is complete and intact; the darker colouring has worn away in places on the sides, and there are some minor surface scratches.
It measures 17.5 by 16.3 mm, and has a height of 15.5 mm and a weight of 1.8 grams.
Collected by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton and his wife Hannah at Loronyo on 17th April 1933, during a shooting expedition.
These plugs were worn by women in their lower lips, and are known as leboito. A similar style of plug is also worn by the Bongo; see 1884.84.88-92 for some early examples of these. A slightly different type of plug was recorded amongst Lotuko women by Samuel White Baker: "A long piece of polished crystal, about as thick as a drawing-pencil ... in order to prevent this ornament from falling, a piece of twine is knotted upon the end that passes through the lip" (J.G. Wood, 1868, The Natural History of Man Volume I, p. 506).
Rachael Sparks 24/9/2005.
Collected by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton and his wife Hannah at Loronyo on 17th April 1933, during a shooting expedition.
These plugs were worn by women in their lower lips, and are known as leboito. A similar style of plug is also worn by the Bongo; see 1884.84.88-92 for some early examples of these. A slightly different type of plug was recorded amongst Lotuko women by Samuel White Baker: "A long piece of polished crystal, about as thick as a drawing-pencil ... in order to prevent this ornament from falling, a piece of twine is knotted upon the end that passes through the lip" (J.G. Wood, 1868, The Natural History of Man Volume I, p. 506).
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: [...] [p.
252] - From the
LATUKA
tribe, NAVERA, TORIT, LARONYO.
[p.
256, insert] 79 [end insert] -
Leboito
, black wooden plug worn by a woman in lower lip, LARONYO (684).
Additional Accession Book Entry [p. 255] - 1934.8.79 Number given LW.
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the catalogue card [RTS 1/6/2004].
Related Documents File - Typewritten List of "Curios Presented to Dr. Balfour by Major & Mrs. Powell-Cotton. Latuka Tribe". This object appears as item 684: " Pair ONE lower lip plug s (woman's), native name Leboito , 17/4/33 Laronyo, 4.38 N 32.37 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].
Written on object - 684 (in pencil on side; this is probably the original collector's marking); LATUKA, E. SUDAN. Lip plug, Powell-Cotton 1934.8.79 (white ink, base) [RTS 10/5/2004].
Additional Accession Book Entry [p. 255] - 1934.8.79 Number given LW.
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the catalogue card [RTS 1/6/2004].
Related Documents File - Typewritten List of "Curios Presented to Dr. Balfour by Major & Mrs. Powell-Cotton. Latuka Tribe". This object appears as item 684: " Pair ONE lower lip plug s (woman's), native name Leboito , 17/4/33 Laronyo, 4.38 N 32.37 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].
Written on object - 684 (in pencil on side; this is probably the original collector's marking); LATUKA, E. SUDAN. Lip plug, Powell-Cotton 1934.8.79 (white ink, base) [RTS 10/5/2004].
Display History:
Former PRM display label - Lip stud worn by a woman in the loweer lip.
Latuka, Laronyo, E.
Sudan.
d.d.
Major Powell-Cotton.
1934 [rectangular card with printed text, stored in RDF; RTS 16/9/2005].
