Zande stool
Other views of this artifact:
Accession Number:
1970.38.10
Country:
Sudan
Region:
[Southern Sudan] Western Equatoria near Yambio
Cultural Group:
Zande
Date Made:
By 1930
Materials:
Wood Plant , Pigment , Copper Metal?
Process:
Carved , Decorated , Incised , Stained , Polished , Repaired (local) Inlaid
Dimensions:
Ht = 220, seat L = 320, W = 305, th = 29.4; handgrip L = 70, W = 22; pedestal fenestration Ht = 91, W = 30; foot base diam = 265, th = 20, depression diam = 76 mm [RTS 14/4/2005].
Weight:
>1000 g
Local Name:
mbata?
Other Owners:
Probably collected by Evans-Pritchard himself during his fieldwork amongst the Zande, which took place during 1927, part of 1928 and 1929 and for several months during 1930 [CM; RTS 6/7/2004].
Field Collector:
Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
PRM Source:
Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
Acquired:
Purchased 1970, by grant aid from the MCG/ V&A purchase grant fund.
Collected Date:
1927 - 1930
Description:
Stool carved from a single block of wood, consisting of a slightly oval top with narrow flat rim and flat, slightly recessed seat with lentoid hand-grip cut near one edge.
The underside is flat and turns out at the centre into a squat cylindrical pedestal foot with swollen, bulbous sides that splay out at the bottom to form a disc base.
A deep circular depression has been hollowed out at the centre of the base underside, but left with a rough surface finish; this was probably added to increase the stability of the form.
The wood is a natural yellow colour (Pantone 7508C), but this has been stained black everywhere except the base underside (Pantone black 7C); this stain has largely worn off the seat.
Most areas have also been polished to a high gloss.
The upper rim edge of the seat has been decorated with two incised lines around the inside and outer edge; on one side of the rim, an additional detail of 4 shallow concentric arcs has been added in the space between.
The pedestal has four rectangular vertical openings cut into it, spaced evenly around its circumference with the hollows meeting at the centre of the body.
Immediately below the base of each window are a series of v-shaped grooves that run towards the edge of the foot.
These are arranged in alternating groups of 2 to 4 pairs of grooves.
The stool is complete, but has been mended.
Two side pieces of the stool have cracked off and been glued back in place.
One of these pieces may also have been pegged in place, with a nail hammered into the flat side edge of the seat and running at an angle into the wood near each end.
These are visible only at their heads, where there is a circular depression filled with a white chalky material that appears to be mixed with small red and brown stones, and was probably a decorative element added to the head of each nail.
The nail itself appears to be visible under one of these insets.
On the other side of the seat, where there is the second broken section, there are 2 circular starter holes where it looks as though a similar repair was begun, but never carried through.
There are some chips missing from the underside of the seat, and several minor surface scratches and wear along edges throughout.
Finally, the foot has signs of a local repair, where 2 rectangular copper rivets were hammered across a crack that had developed - one on the side edge of the foot, one across the underside.
Some of the surface of this underside has also eroded away, leaving an irregular, channelled surface.
The stool has a height of 220 mm; the seat is 320 mm long, 305 mm wide and 29.4 mm thick, while the hand grip measures 70 by 22 mm across; the pedestal fenestrations are 30 mm wide and 91 mm high; the foot base has a diameter of 265 mm and is 20 mm thick, while the depression at its centre has a diameter of 76 mm.
Probably collected by Evans-Pritchard himself during his fieldwork amongst the Zande, which took place during 1927, part of 1928 and 1929 and for several months during 1930. For similar Zande stools, see also 1970.38.11 and 1948.2.138, and 1948.2.139 (with solid pedestal), all collected by Evans-Pritchard.
Evans-Pritchard photographed a comparable stool being manufactured by the Zande woodworker Kisanga - see the photographic archives for accession numbers 1998.341.22, 1998.341.79, 1998.341.316 and 1998.341.319 where a nearly completed stool is being stained by applying a liquid to it from a clay pot boiling on a fire, showing that, unlike some of the wooden bowls, stools were stained by the craftsman, not the subsequent owner. Other images show Kisanga using an adze to carve out the wood (e.g.: 1998.341.27, although in this case the stool has a square top - either because it is unfinished, or because it is a slightly different form). This type of stool also appears in images 1998.341.152, 1998.341.185 and 1998.341.502, and being sat on by men in 1998.341.206 and 1998.341.211.
Larken describes these stools as follows: "Solid wood… is employed in the manufacture of the stools, mbata , which are made after the fashion of this dish [a circular dish on a pedestal stem, sometimes pierced, with round base]; the seat is slightly hollowed so that there is a flat raised rim at the circumference, and is usually pierced so that it may be hung up by a cord out of the way of white ants. Such stools are about a foot in height, or rather more, the diameter being the same, though bigger ones are not uncommon … sections of logs … must be used for the standing dishes, stools and mortars." (P.M. Larken, 1927, "Impressions of the Azande", Sudan Notes and Records X, p. 132).
This style of object seems to be produced also by the Mangbetu, called nobarra, and carved by male craftsmen. These stools were used by Mangbetu women, who sometimes passed a carrying strap around the top of the pedestal and through the hand grip, with the strap either going across the forehead so the stool could hang down their back, or over one shoulder (see E. Schildkrout & C.A. Keim, 1990, African Reflections , pp 119-121, fig. 6.25, and photos showing these stools in use, figure 7.3 and 7.5).
Rachael Sparks 23/08/2005.
Probably collected by Evans-Pritchard himself during his fieldwork amongst the Zande, which took place during 1927, part of 1928 and 1929 and for several months during 1930. For similar Zande stools, see also 1970.38.11 and 1948.2.138, and 1948.2.139 (with solid pedestal), all collected by Evans-Pritchard.
Evans-Pritchard photographed a comparable stool being manufactured by the Zande woodworker Kisanga - see the photographic archives for accession numbers 1998.341.22, 1998.341.79, 1998.341.316 and 1998.341.319 where a nearly completed stool is being stained by applying a liquid to it from a clay pot boiling on a fire, showing that, unlike some of the wooden bowls, stools were stained by the craftsman, not the subsequent owner. Other images show Kisanga using an adze to carve out the wood (e.g.: 1998.341.27, although in this case the stool has a square top - either because it is unfinished, or because it is a slightly different form). This type of stool also appears in images 1998.341.152, 1998.341.185 and 1998.341.502, and being sat on by men in 1998.341.206 and 1998.341.211.
Larken describes these stools as follows: "Solid wood… is employed in the manufacture of the stools, mbata , which are made after the fashion of this dish [a circular dish on a pedestal stem, sometimes pierced, with round base]; the seat is slightly hollowed so that there is a flat raised rim at the circumference, and is usually pierced so that it may be hung up by a cord out of the way of white ants. Such stools are about a foot in height, or rather more, the diameter being the same, though bigger ones are not uncommon … sections of logs … must be used for the standing dishes, stools and mortars." (P.M. Larken, 1927, "Impressions of the Azande", Sudan Notes and Records X, p. 132).
This style of object seems to be produced also by the Mangbetu, called nobarra, and carved by male craftsmen. These stools were used by Mangbetu women, who sometimes passed a carrying strap around the top of the pedestal and through the hand grip, with the strap either going across the forehead so the stool could hang down their back, or over one shoulder (see E. Schildkrout & C.A. Keim, 1990, African Reflections , pp 119-121, fig. 6.25, and photos showing these stools in use, figure 7.3 and 7.5).
Rachael Sparks 23/08/2005.
Primary Documentation:
Accession Book Entry
- P[urchased].
Professor E.E.
Evans-Pritchard.
...
Headington, Oxford.
Collection of carved wooden objects obtained by him in the 1920’s.
- SUDAN, NEAR YAMBI VILLAGE, AZANDE.
Wooden stool, almost circular, seat joined to flat circular base by globular portion in 4 sections with gaps between.
Base decorated with deep incisions running from rim to centre, 2 groups of 2 and 2 of 4.
Height 21.5 cm.
diam of seat 32 x 30.5 cm.
diam of base 26.7 cm.
Handhold [lentoid]-shaped cut in seat near rim.
Additional Accession Book Entry [page opposite 289] - Documents relating to purchase of collection in RDF. See file 001.10. Prof. Evans-Pritchard writes that these objects are carved by specialists and were in use by the people from whom they were acquired. Green timber is used and the work is most likely to be carried out in the dry season. Several species of timber are used. The black staining and polishing is done by the owners themselves. 1970.38.1 - 12 Purchased by grant aid from the MCG/ V+A purchase grant fund. [p. 292, red biro] - 70.11.10.
Card Catalogue Entry - The catalogue card repeats the accession book entry, but adds 'coll. by Prof. E.E. Evans Pritchard in the 1920's. Purch. from him' [RTS 10/2/2004].
Pitt Rivers Museum label - 1970.38.10. SUDAN, Near YAMBI VILLAGE, AZANDE. Stool. Coll. by Prof. E.E. Evans-Pritchard in the 1920's. Purch. from him [plastic label with metal eyelet, tied to object; RTS 9/4/2005].
Written on object - SUDAN AZANDE, Evans-Pritchard coll. 1970.38.10 [RTS 9/4/2005].
Related Documents File - 1970.38.1-12: letter dated 2 June 1970, from Evans-Pritchard to Bernard Fagg, Curator of the PRM, offering several Zande and Mangbetu specimens for sale; this is annotated with a reply, which was typed up as a letter sent on the 4th June 1970, arranging for them to be brought to the PRM for appraisal. Letter from Fagg to 'Billy' in Barnes, dated 24th July 1970, enclosing photographs of the objects and requesting an assessment of their value. Another letter from Fagg to Evans-Pritchard, dated 27th July 1970, with notes about the objects made after an earlier telephone conversation between the two, and requesting more information about them. The Zande material is described only as ' Azande the balance [e.g. the remaining items] - stools, food bowls, etc.'. There is also an annotated copy of this letter which has been corrected and updated, resumably after a reply was received. This states that the Zande material came from near Yambio Village, in the Sudan; that it was acquired in the 1920's, the items had been used by the people from whom they were acquired, that several types of timber were used, that the timber was carved when green, most likely during the dry season, that the carvers were specialists, and that the objects had been polished and stained by the owners themselves, not after purchase.
An application was made to the purchase grant fund, written on 11th September 1970, and sent the following day, concerning the purchase of these items. This provided an itemised list, in which this object appears as 'Azande stool. Height 21 1/2 cm. Diameter of seat: 32 cm'. A letter dated the 16th September, from Schuyler Jones (Assistant Curator of PRM) to Mr Dawes of the V&A added two further object descriptions which had been ommitted from the application by mistake. Fagg also wrote a letter to Hugh Wakefield, of the V&A Museum, dated 27th August 1970 requesting a grant in support of the purchase of these items; the reply, dated 30th September 1970, agrees to pay half the sum required; there is finally a direction dated 6th October 1970 for Barclays Bank to Pay Evans-Pritchard £120. The file also contains a copy of several black and white prints of the objects acquired [RTS 6/1/2004].
Additional Accession Book Entry [page opposite 289] - Documents relating to purchase of collection in RDF. See file 001.10. Prof. Evans-Pritchard writes that these objects are carved by specialists and were in use by the people from whom they were acquired. Green timber is used and the work is most likely to be carried out in the dry season. Several species of timber are used. The black staining and polishing is done by the owners themselves. 1970.38.1 - 12 Purchased by grant aid from the MCG/ V+A purchase grant fund. [p. 292, red biro] - 70.11.10.
Card Catalogue Entry - The catalogue card repeats the accession book entry, but adds 'coll. by Prof. E.E. Evans Pritchard in the 1920's. Purch. from him' [RTS 10/2/2004].
Pitt Rivers Museum label - 1970.38.10. SUDAN, Near YAMBI VILLAGE, AZANDE. Stool. Coll. by Prof. E.E. Evans-Pritchard in the 1920's. Purch. from him [plastic label with metal eyelet, tied to object; RTS 9/4/2005].
Written on object - SUDAN AZANDE, Evans-Pritchard coll. 1970.38.10 [RTS 9/4/2005].
Related Documents File - 1970.38.1-12: letter dated 2 June 1970, from Evans-Pritchard to Bernard Fagg, Curator of the PRM, offering several Zande and Mangbetu specimens for sale; this is annotated with a reply, which was typed up as a letter sent on the 4th June 1970, arranging for them to be brought to the PRM for appraisal. Letter from Fagg to 'Billy' in Barnes, dated 24th July 1970, enclosing photographs of the objects and requesting an assessment of their value. Another letter from Fagg to Evans-Pritchard, dated 27th July 1970, with notes about the objects made after an earlier telephone conversation between the two, and requesting more information about them. The Zande material is described only as ' Azande the balance [e.g. the remaining items] - stools, food bowls, etc.'. There is also an annotated copy of this letter which has been corrected and updated, resumably after a reply was received. This states that the Zande material came from near Yambio Village, in the Sudan; that it was acquired in the 1920's, the items had been used by the people from whom they were acquired, that several types of timber were used, that the timber was carved when green, most likely during the dry season, that the carvers were specialists, and that the objects had been polished and stained by the owners themselves, not after purchase.
An application was made to the purchase grant fund, written on 11th September 1970, and sent the following day, concerning the purchase of these items. This provided an itemised list, in which this object appears as 'Azande stool. Height 21 1/2 cm. Diameter of seat: 32 cm'. A letter dated the 16th September, from Schuyler Jones (Assistant Curator of PRM) to Mr Dawes of the V&A added two further object descriptions which had been ommitted from the application by mistake. Fagg also wrote a letter to Hugh Wakefield, of the V&A Museum, dated 27th August 1970 requesting a grant in support of the purchase of these items; the reply, dated 30th September 1970, agrees to pay half the sum required; there is finally a direction dated 6th October 1970 for Barclays Bank to Pay Evans-Pritchard £120. The file also contains a copy of several black and white prints of the objects acquired [RTS 6/1/2004].
