Jur staff
Accession Number:
[1884.13.2]
Country:
Sudan
Region:
[Southern Sudan] [White Nile]
Cultural Group:
Jur
Date Made:
?Before 1858
Materials:
Wood Plant , Animal Hide Skin , ?Giraffe Skin Animal
Process:
Carved , Bound
Other Owners:
btained by John Petherick in the Sudan in 1858 and shipped back to England in 1859. Sold at auction, lots 11 and 78, and acquired by Pitt Rivers. This may have been the auction of 27th June 1862, carried out through Mr Bullock of High Holborn, London (see
Field Collector:
John Petherick
PRM Source:
Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers founding collection
Acquired:
Donated 1884
Collected Date:
1858
Description:
Staff with thong binding, ornamented with giraffe's tail (the tail may no longer be present).
Obtained by John Petherick in the Sudan in 1858 and shipped back to England in 1859. Sold at auction, lots 11 and 78, and acquired by Pitt Rivers. This may have been the auction of 27th June 1862, carried out through Mr Bullock of High Holborn, London (see the Catalogue of the very interesting collection of arms and implements of war, husbandry, and the chase, and articles of costume and domestic use, procured during several expeditions up the White Nile, Bahr-il-Gazal, and among the various tribes of the country, to the cannibal Neam Nam territory on the Equator, by John Petherick, Esq., H.M. Consul, Khartoum, Soudan ). This auction included 8 objects described as a Jur staff; lots 11, 12 and 13 each included a Jur staff with giraffe tail, and this is probably to be equated with one of those. Pitt Rivers sent this object to Bethnal Green Museum for display, as part of the first batch of objects sent there, probably in 1874. This object was later displayed in the South Kensington Museum, and transferred from there to become part of the founding collection of the Pitt Rivers Museum in 1884.
It is not clear if this is a fighting stick, or a status object.
Rachael Sparks 30/9/2005.
Obtained by John Petherick in the Sudan in 1858 and shipped back to England in 1859. Sold at auction, lots 11 and 78, and acquired by Pitt Rivers. This may have been the auction of 27th June 1862, carried out through Mr Bullock of High Holborn, London (see the Catalogue of the very interesting collection of arms and implements of war, husbandry, and the chase, and articles of costume and domestic use, procured during several expeditions up the White Nile, Bahr-il-Gazal, and among the various tribes of the country, to the cannibal Neam Nam territory on the Equator, by John Petherick, Esq., H.M. Consul, Khartoum, Soudan ). This auction included 8 objects described as a Jur staff; lots 11, 12 and 13 each included a Jur staff with giraffe tail, and this is probably to be equated with one of those. Pitt Rivers sent this object to Bethnal Green Museum for display, as part of the first batch of objects sent there, probably in 1874. This object was later displayed in the South Kensington Museum, and transferred from there to become part of the founding collection of the Pitt Rivers Museum in 1884.
It is not clear if this is a fighting stick, or a status object.
Rachael Sparks 30/9/2005.
Primary Documentation:
Accession Book IV entry
[p.
26] [insert] 1884.13 [end insert]
STAVES
[insert] 1 [end insert] - 570 - Similar staff ['Wooden staff with point covered with tail-skin with side flaps'], with thong binding.
JUR, WHITE NILE.
Petherick 1858 (631 black) (Lot 11.
Large No.
78).
Additional Accession Book IV Entry [page opposite 26] - [Drawing, either going with 1884.13.1 or .2, annotated 'suggest's elephant's head'].
Collectors Miscellaneous XI Accession Book entry [p. 193] - PETHERICK, Consul [...] [insert] 1884.13.2 [end insert] ditto [staves], ii. (large no. 79). ditto [Wooden staff] with elab[orate]. binding of hide thongs (formerly ornam[ented] with giraffe tail), Djour tribe, White Nile, 1858, (P.R. 570).
Black book entry [p. 24] - Sticks & Staves. 631. Staff, ornamented with Giraffe's tail. Djour tribe. Obtd by Petherick (570). [insert] 1884.13.2 [end insert].
Delivery Catalogue I entry [p. 72] - Staves, African, Polynesian & Indian [insert] 1884.13.2 [end insert] Wood staff 631.570 Screen 18, 78.
Pitt Rivers Catalogue Entry (1874) [p. 86] - SCREEN 18. STAVES. [...] 570. STAFF ornamented with a giraffe's tail. Djour tribe, White Nile. Obtained by Mr Petherick.
Card Catalogue Entry - AFRICA, WHITE NILE, JUR. 570./631 black/Petherick 1858/.(lot 11, large no. 78)./. Staff ornamented w. giraffe's tail [RTS 27/4/2004].
Additional Accession Book IV Entry [page opposite 26] - [Drawing, either going with 1884.13.1 or .2, annotated 'suggest's elephant's head'].
Collectors Miscellaneous XI Accession Book entry [p. 193] - PETHERICK, Consul [...] [insert] 1884.13.2 [end insert] ditto [staves], ii. (large no. 79). ditto [Wooden staff] with elab[orate]. binding of hide thongs (formerly ornam[ented] with giraffe tail), Djour tribe, White Nile, 1858, (P.R. 570).
Black book entry [p. 24] - Sticks & Staves. 631. Staff, ornamented with Giraffe's tail. Djour tribe. Obtd by Petherick (570). [insert] 1884.13.2 [end insert].
Delivery Catalogue I entry [p. 72] - Staves, African, Polynesian & Indian [insert] 1884.13.2 [end insert] Wood staff 631.570 Screen 18, 78.
Pitt Rivers Catalogue Entry (1874) [p. 86] - SCREEN 18. STAVES. [...] 570. STAFF ornamented with a giraffe's tail. Djour tribe, White Nile. Obtained by Mr Petherick.
Card Catalogue Entry - AFRICA, WHITE NILE, JUR. 570./631 black/Petherick 1858/.(lot 11, large no. 78)./. Staff ornamented w. giraffe's tail [RTS 27/4/2004].
Display History:
Displayed in Bethnal Green and South Kensington Museums (V&A).
[AP]
