Zande bowl
Other views of this artifact:
Accession Number:
1970.38.7
Country:
Sudan
Region:
[Southern Sudan] Western Equatoria near Yambio
Cultural Group:
Zande
Date Made:
By 1930
Materials:
Wood Plant , Pigment
Process:
Carved , Incised , Decorated , Stained , Polished
Dimensions:
Ht = 285, diam rim ext. = 292 x 287, rim int. = 254 x 244, total width between feet tops = 410; feet W (individually) = 58.5, (as pairs) = 126, th = 34; base plate L = 340, W = 236, th = 18; central column diam base = 51 mm [RTS 16/5/2005].
Weight:
> 1000 g
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:
Food bowl carved from a single block of wood and consisting of a narrow flat-topped rim and short concave broad neck on a deep hemispherical body with convex underside.
This is slung between 2 pairs of vertical legs, carved from the same block, with flat square upper faces and square sectioned bodies with bevelled corners.
Each pair is joined together at the rim edge and base, but divide into separate bodies for most of their length.
At their base, they join onto a flat lozenge-shaped plate which has a short cylindrical column at its centre that rises to meet the centre of the bowl underside.
The wood is a yellowish brown colour (Pantone 7509C) but has been stained a dark brownish black throughout (Pantone black 7C) and polished.
It has been further embellished with incised decoration, consisting of 2 rows of running semicircles filled with horizontal hatching, making a scalloped design that borders the inside and outside edges of the rim, and pairs of opposing triangles filled with stacked chevrons decorating the upper surface of each leg, within a frame of double lines.
There is also a single motif decorating the centre of the neck on both sides of the bowl, with an irregular loop on one face, and 2 linked lozenges with a central filling line on the opposite side.
The bowl is complete and in good condition, but with some chips missing from the edges of the rim and feet, exposing the lighter colour of the wood beneath; tool marks are visible across much of the surface as a series of small facets.
It weighs in excess of 1000 grams, and is 285 mm high, with the rim measuring 292 by 287 mm across its outer edges, and 254 by 244 mm across its mouth, with a total width between the tops of the feet of 410 mm; the feet measure 58.5 mm wide, individually, and 126 mm wide as a pair, with a thickness of 34 mm, while the base plate measures 340 mm in length, is 236 mm wide and 18 mm thick, and the central supporting column has a diameter of 51 mm.
Collected by Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard near Yambio during his fieldwork amongst the Zande, which took place during 1927, part of 1928 and 1929 and for several months during 1930.
This type of bowl was used for food. Wooden bowls and stools were carved by specialist Zande craftsmen from several species of timber, when green, probably during the dry season, and were used by the people form whom they were acquired. A similar bowl may be seen in Evans-Pritchard’s photograph 1998.316.1, which shows the Zande woodworker Kisanga staining a stool by applying a liquid to it from a clay pot boiling on a fire - elsewhere he is shown carving stool bodies. The bowl sitting by here is unstained and probably waiting to be treated. This might suggest that bowls were sometimes stained by the makers, while Evans-Pritchard has stated elsewhere that staining and polishing was done by the subsequent owners (in the documentation for 1970.38.1-12).
Rachael Sparks 18/9/2005.
Collected by Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard near Yambio during his fieldwork amongst the Zande, which took place during 1927, part of 1928 and 1929 and for several months during 1930.
This type of bowl was used for food. Wooden bowls and stools were carved by specialist Zande craftsmen from several species of timber, when green, probably during the dry season, and were used by the people form whom they were acquired. A similar bowl may be seen in Evans-Pritchard’s photograph 1998.316.1, which shows the Zande woodworker Kisanga staining a stool by applying a liquid to it from a clay pot boiling on a fire - elsewhere he is shown carving stool bodies. The bowl sitting by here is unstained and probably waiting to be treated. This might suggest that bowls were sometimes stained by the makers, while Evans-Pritchard has stated elsewhere that staining and polishing was done by the subsequent owners (in the documentation for 1970.38.1-12).
Rachael Sparks 18/9/2005.
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.
Food bowl carved from a single block of wood, with side handles projecting downward and joining base.
Core of wood left in centre of base to support bowl.
Ht.
29.5 cm.
Diam of bowl 24 cm.
max l[ength] incl[uding] handles 41.2 cm.
Decorated with incised lines on rim and top of handles.
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. 291, red biro] - 70.11.9.
Card Catalogue Entry - The catalogue card repeats the accession book entry, but adds 'Coll[ected] by Prof. E.E. Evans Pritchard in the 1920's. Purch[ased] from him [RTS 10/2/2004].
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 'Wooden Azande food bowl with side handles projecting downward and joining base. Core of wood left in centre of base to support bowl. Height: 29 1/2 cm. Diameter of bowl: 24 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].
Pitt Rivers Museum label - 1970.38.7 SUDAN, Near YAMBI VILLAGE, AZANDE. Food bowl. Coll. by Prof. E.E. Evans-Pritchard in the 1920's. Purch. from him [plastic label with metal eyelet, tied to object; RTS 16/5/2005].
Written on object - SUDAN AZANDE 1970.37.7 [white ink on base; RTS 16/5/2005].
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. 291, red biro] - 70.11.9.
Card Catalogue Entry - The catalogue card repeats the accession book entry, but adds 'Coll[ected] by Prof. E.E. Evans Pritchard in the 1920's. Purch[ased] from him [RTS 10/2/2004].
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 'Wooden Azande food bowl with side handles projecting downward and joining base. Core of wood left in centre of base to support bowl. Height: 29 1/2 cm. Diameter of bowl: 24 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].
Pitt Rivers Museum label - 1970.38.7 SUDAN, Near YAMBI VILLAGE, AZANDE. Food bowl. Coll. by Prof. E.E. Evans-Pritchard in the 1920's. Purch. from him [plastic label with metal eyelet, tied to object; RTS 16/5/2005].
Written on object - SUDAN AZANDE 1970.37.7 [white ink on base; RTS 16/5/2005].
