Nuer toy figure
Other views of this artifact:
Accession Number:
1936.10.84
Country:
Sudan
Region:
[Southern Sudan]
Cultural Group:
Nuer
Maker:
Made by boys.
Date Made:
By 1936
Materials:
Clay , Grass Fibre Plant , Pigment
Process:
Modelled , Pinched , Dried , Painted , Twisted
Dimensions:
Ht = 115, L = 137, W = 44.5 mm [RTS 13/10/2004].
Weight:
407.7 g
Other Owners:
This object was probably collected in 1935 or 1936, when Evans-Pritchard held a research fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust (see E.E. Evans-Pritchard, 1940, The Nuer) [RTS 28/9/2004].
Field Collector:
Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
PRM Source:
Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
Acquired:
Donated 1936
Collected Date:
1935 - 1936
Description:
Toy figure of a cow hand made from a well levigated gray clay with tiny mica inclusions (Pantone 404C), dried in the sun and then painted with white (Pantone 7401C) and black pigment (Pantone 440C).
The figure consists of a cylindrical body, pinched together at the front to form a ridge running down the chest.
The head is not well defined, and is dominated by two large tapering horns that curve out in an arc on either side of the face.
Two small pellets of clay have been applied just behind these, and pulled outwards to form two small, pointed ears.
Behind the head, the back rises into an elongated hump with rounded top, then down into a slightly concave lower back with rounded rump that extends slightly beyond the line of the back legs.
A thin piece of clay has been rolled around 6 pieces of yellow twisted grass fibre strings (Pantone 7509C), the ends of which splay out from the base of the clay.
This was applied to the back of the torso to hang down between the legs as a long tail.
Four legs have been pulled out from the underside of the body, separating just above the base and slightly flattened on their narrow undersides to allow the figure to stand upright.
Additional clay has been added to the underside, in a long strip running along its length and thickening between the rear legs, and as four smaller pellets on either side that presumably represent the udder.
The surface, which is roughly finished in parts, has been painted with vertical bands of black and white pigment to indicate the cow's markings.
These consist of a black band down the front of the animal, covering its flanks and the front part of the hump; a white band running down from the hump, and a third black band covering the back third of the cow.
Two thinner white streaks run down the back of the legs and tail, and on the tips of the horns.
The object appears to be complete, although the tip of one horn has been rejoined and the clay at the end of the tail has cracked.
It has a weight of 407.7 grams, is 115 mm high, 137 mm long and measures 44.5 mm across the hind quarters.
This object was collected by Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard when he held a research fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust (see E.E. Evans-Pritchard, 1940, The Nuer ), either during May to July 1935, when he worked amongst the Nuer Lou and Eastern Jikany, or from October to November 1936, when he was working amongst the Karlual section of the Nuer Leek, in Western Nuerland (pers. comm. Chris Morton 2004).
This object was published by J. Coote, in "‘Marvels of Everyday Vision’: The Anthropology of Aesthetics and the Cattle-Keeping Nilotes", J. Coote & A. Shelton (eds), Anthropology Art and Aesthetics, 1992, fig. 10.7 (2nd from right). Coote comments that these figures are labelled Anuak, but are almost certainly all Nuer.
These figures were made by boys, and played with by children of both sexes. Evans-Pritchard says of the Nuer that: “The games of rather older children of both sexes centre round cattle. They build byres of sand in camps and of moistened ashes or mud in villages, and fill the toy kraals with fine mud cows and oxen ... with which they play at herding and marriage” (E.E. Evans-Pritchard, 1940, The Nuer, p. 38). These types of figures are differentiated to show the sex of the animal, and often include details such as hide markings and decorative ornaments (see 1936.10.85-86). They are not confined to cattle, but include wild animals, such as giraffes (1936.10.91, 1936.10.71), lions (1937.34.73, 1937.34.78), buffalo (1937.34.77), and hedgehogs (1937.34.70), as well as people (1936.10.92-93, 1937.34.74-75).
For clay figures made by the Dinka, see S.L. Cummins 1904, "Sub-tribes of the Bahr-el-Ghazal Dinkas", JRAI 34, pp 160-161, and for a photograph of Shilluk children playing with a large group of such figures, see H.A. Bernatzik, 1929, Zwischen Weissem Nil und Belgisch-Kongo, fig. 137.
Currently on display in the Court, case 143A.
Rachael Sparks 18/9/2005.
This object was collected by Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard when he held a research fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust (see E.E. Evans-Pritchard, 1940, The Nuer ), either during May to July 1935, when he worked amongst the Nuer Lou and Eastern Jikany, or from October to November 1936, when he was working amongst the Karlual section of the Nuer Leek, in Western Nuerland (pers. comm. Chris Morton 2004).
This object was published by J. Coote, in "‘Marvels of Everyday Vision’: The Anthropology of Aesthetics and the Cattle-Keeping Nilotes", J. Coote & A. Shelton (eds), Anthropology Art and Aesthetics, 1992, fig. 10.7 (2nd from right). Coote comments that these figures are labelled Anuak, but are almost certainly all Nuer.
These figures were made by boys, and played with by children of both sexes. Evans-Pritchard says of the Nuer that: “The games of rather older children of both sexes centre round cattle. They build byres of sand in camps and of moistened ashes or mud in villages, and fill the toy kraals with fine mud cows and oxen ... with which they play at herding and marriage” (E.E. Evans-Pritchard, 1940, The Nuer, p. 38). These types of figures are differentiated to show the sex of the animal, and often include details such as hide markings and decorative ornaments (see 1936.10.85-86). They are not confined to cattle, but include wild animals, such as giraffes (1936.10.91, 1936.10.71), lions (1937.34.73, 1937.34.78), buffalo (1937.34.77), and hedgehogs (1937.34.70), as well as people (1936.10.92-93, 1937.34.74-75).
For clay figures made by the Dinka, see S.L. Cummins 1904, "Sub-tribes of the Bahr-el-Ghazal Dinkas", JRAI 34, pp 160-161, and for a photograph of Shilluk children playing with a large group of such figures, see H.A. Bernatzik, 1929, Zwischen Weissem Nil und Belgisch-Kongo, fig. 137.
Currently on display in the Court, case 143A.
Rachael Sparks 18/9/2005.
Primary Documentation:
Accession Book Entry
[p.
410] - 1936 [insert] 10 [end insert] E.
EVANS-PRITCHARD, M.A., Exeter College, Oxford.
- Specimens collected by himself in the EASTERN SUDAN, while travelling with a Grant from the
Rockefeller
Leverhulme Trustees, viz: [p.
418] [insert] 82-90 [end insert] - [One of] 9 Figures of clay, representing bulls and cows (showing varieties of horn growth, colouring etc), made by boys & used as toys by boys and girls.
ANUAK
.
[pencil insert] ANUAK? [end insert] NUER.
Additional Accession Book Entry [p. 417, in red biro, with line relating these to records 1936.10.82-90] - A15.F36.5 [group shot], 68.18.34-35 [should be 68.18.31-32, shot of 1936.10.72 only, RTS 5/10/2004], PR 458Q, PR 117-118Q.
Card Catalogue Entry - Information as accession book entry, with additional handwritten data: [insert, red] A15.F36.5 PR 117-118Q [end insert], EASTERN SUDAN [ANUAK? covered in white-out, insert] NUER [end insert], [insert, black] These figures are labelled ANUAK but are almost certainly Nuer (info. from Jeremy Coote 1992). Jeremy Coote, "Marvels of Everyday Vision": The Anthropology of Aesthetics and the Cattle-Keeping Nilotes", in Jeremy Coote and Anthony Shelton (eds.), Anthropology, Art and Aesthetics (Oxford Studies in the Anthropology of Cultural Forms, 1), Oxford: Clarendon Press 1992. Copy in Research File - COOTE [RTS 23/7/2004].
Written on object - Toy cow. ANUAK, E. SUDAN. d.d. Evans-Pritchard 1936 [RTS 13/10/2004].
Additional Accession Book Entry [p. 417, in red biro, with line relating these to records 1936.10.82-90] - A15.F36.5 [group shot], 68.18.34-35 [should be 68.18.31-32, shot of 1936.10.72 only, RTS 5/10/2004], PR 458Q, PR 117-118Q.
Card Catalogue Entry - Information as accession book entry, with additional handwritten data: [insert, red] A15.F36.5 PR 117-118Q [end insert], EASTERN SUDAN [ANUAK? covered in white-out, insert] NUER [end insert], [insert, black] These figures are labelled ANUAK but are almost certainly Nuer (info. from Jeremy Coote 1992). Jeremy Coote, "Marvels of Everyday Vision": The Anthropology of Aesthetics and the Cattle-Keeping Nilotes", in Jeremy Coote and Anthony Shelton (eds.), Anthropology, Art and Aesthetics (Oxford Studies in the Anthropology of Cultural Forms, 1), Oxford: Clarendon Press 1992. Copy in Research File - COOTE [RTS 23/7/2004].
Written on object - Toy cow. ANUAK, E. SUDAN. d.d. Evans-Pritchard 1936 [RTS 13/10/2004].
Publication History:
This object was published by J.
Coote, in "‘Marvels of Everyday Vision’: The Anthropology of Aesthetics and the Cattle-Keeping Nilotes", J.
Coote & A.
Shelton (eds), Anthropology Art and Aesthetics, 1992, figure 10.7 (2nd from right).
Coote comments that these figures are labelled Anuak, but are almost certainly all Nuer [RTS 9/1/2004].
