Dinka parrying shield
Other views of this artifact:
Accession Number:
1936.10.11
Country:
Sudan
Region:
[Southern Sudan] [Upper Nile]
Cultural Group:
Ngok Dinka
Date Made:
By 1936
Materials:
Wood Plant , Animal Hide Skin
Process:
Carved , Perforated , Tied
Dimensions:
L = 1035, W = 100.5, th = 98 mm; handle W = 30.5; groove W = 25; hide loop W = 9.5, th = 1.5, diam hole = 9 mm [RTS 11/1/2005].
Weight:
1275 g
Local Name:
?kuerr kwerr ?quayre ?quer
Other Owners:
Collected by Evans-Pritchard sometime between December 1926 and November 1936, when he was working in Southern Sudan studying groups such as the Zande and Nuer [RTS 11/1/2005].
Field Collector:
Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
PRM Source:
Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
Acquired:
Donated 1936
Collected Date:
By 1936
Description:
Parrying shield carved from a single piece of orangey brown wood (Pantone 4635C).
This consists of a narrow body with swollen centre, tapering to a point at either end.
The central area has been hollowed out on one side to form a rectangular handle with convex inner face, where the fingers would fit around it, and a concave hollow below to allow room for the knuckles.
The sides of the shield are slightly convex, coming together at a sharp angle which forms the back of the object; a deep v-shaped groove has been carved along the front edge, extending all the way along to either end.
The surface has some polish.
The shield has been perforated near one end, and a narrow strip of dark brown hide passed through to form a loop, the ends of which have been slit, pushed through one another and folded underneath to close the loop (Pantone black 7C).
The object is complete, but badly split on either side of the handle.
It has an approximate weight of 1275 grams, and is 1035 mm long, 100.5 mm wide and 98 mm thick, with a handle width of 30.5 mm.
The groove is 25 mm wide, the suspension loop at the end is 9.5 mm wide and 1.5 mm thick; the hole itself has a diameter of 9 mm.
Collected by Evans-Pritchard sometime between December 1926 and November 1936, when he was working in Southern Sudan studying groups such as the Zande and Nuer.
This object originated as a parrying shield, but by the time it was obtained by Evans-Pritchard, it was being used in dances. It is very similar in style to 1931.66.10, 1934.8.9, 1944.10.20-21 (Dinka) and 1979.20.75 (Dinka Tuich). Schweinfurth gives the Dinka name for this type of shield as kuerr / Kwerr (G. Schweinfurth, 1875, Artes Africanae, pl. I figs 13-15, giving the wood species as diospyrus mespiliformis; G. Schweinfurth The Heat of Africa, 1873, vol. 1, p. 156, in anglicised spelling as quayre ). Note that Petherick also illustrated the type, which he associated with the Mundu, a group located between the Dinka and the Zande (J. Petherick, 1861, "On the Arms of the Arab and Negro Tribes of Central Africa, Bordering on the White Nile", Journal of the Royal United Service Institution IV no. 13, fig. 16). The groove along the inside face of the shield is probably designed to allow a spear to slot in place, enabling both to be carried together more easily and freeing up the other hand (D. Plasche & M.A. Zirngibl, 1992, African Shields, p. 75).
In the early 1930's, Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton filmed footage of a staged fight between a Dinka and Jur, each armed with a club and heavy parrying shield (Mrs Powell Cotton, "Village Handicrafts in the Sudan", Man 34 (112), pp 90-91). A copy of this film is held in the archives of the Powell-Cotton Museum at Quex Park in Kent.
Rachael Sparks and Jeremy Coote 1/8/2005.
Collected by Evans-Pritchard sometime between December 1926 and November 1936, when he was working in Southern Sudan studying groups such as the Zande and Nuer.
This object originated as a parrying shield, but by the time it was obtained by Evans-Pritchard, it was being used in dances. It is very similar in style to 1931.66.10, 1934.8.9, 1944.10.20-21 (Dinka) and 1979.20.75 (Dinka Tuich). Schweinfurth gives the Dinka name for this type of shield as kuerr / Kwerr (G. Schweinfurth, 1875, Artes Africanae, pl. I figs 13-15, giving the wood species as diospyrus mespiliformis; G. Schweinfurth The Heat of Africa, 1873, vol. 1, p. 156, in anglicised spelling as quayre ). Note that Petherick also illustrated the type, which he associated with the Mundu, a group located between the Dinka and the Zande (J. Petherick, 1861, "On the Arms of the Arab and Negro Tribes of Central Africa, Bordering on the White Nile", Journal of the Royal United Service Institution IV no. 13, fig. 16). The groove along the inside face of the shield is probably designed to allow a spear to slot in place, enabling both to be carried together more easily and freeing up the other hand (D. Plasche & M.A. Zirngibl, 1992, African Shields, p. 75).
In the early 1930's, Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton filmed footage of a staged fight between a Dinka and Jur, each armed with a club and heavy parrying shield (Mrs Powell Cotton, "Village Handicrafts in the Sudan", Man 34 (112), pp 90-91). A copy of this film is held in the archives of the Powell-Cotton Museum at Quex Park in Kent.
Rachael Sparks and Jeremy Coote 1/8/2005.
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: [insert] 11 [end insert] - Double-ended parrying-shield, cut from the solid wood, now used in dancing, NGOK DINKA, UPPER NILE.
Additional Accession Book Entry [p. 409] - 1936.10.11 No given AP l[ength] = 1030 mm, w[idth] = 111 mm.
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the catalogue card [RTS 6/4/2004].
Old Pitt Rivers Museum label - Parrying-shield now used for dances. NGOK DINKA, UPPER NILE. d.d. E. Evans Pritchard 1936.
Additional Accession Book Entry [p. 409] - 1936.10.11 No given AP l[ength] = 1030 mm, w[idth] = 111 mm.
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the catalogue card [RTS 6/4/2004].
Old Pitt Rivers Museum label - Parrying-shield now used for dances. NGOK DINKA, UPPER NILE. d.d. E. Evans Pritchard 1936.
