Zande lip plug
Other views of this artifact:
Accession Number:
1886.1.519
Country:
Sudan
Region:
[Southern Sudan]
Cultural Group:
Zande
Date Made:
?before 1865
Materials:
Stone , ?Quartz Stone
Process:
Ground , Polished
Dimensions:
L = 53.4 mm, Max W = 11.5 mm, Max Th = 10.4 mm [RTS 18/5/2004].
Weight:
9.2 g
Other Owners:
Either collected by Petherick in 1858, and shipped back to England in 1859, or between 1862-3 and shipped back in 1865 (depending on whether the attribution to the Zande is correct; see notes field). It was subsequently acquired by the Ashmolean Museum by
Field Collector:
John Petherick
PRM Source:
Ashmolean Museum
Acquired:
Transferred 10 February 1886
Collected Date:
1858, or 1862 - 1863
Description:
Lip plug made from a translucent white to light grey piece of stone, possibly rock crystal or another form of quartz; this is slightly yellow when held up to the light (Pantone 7527C).
This has been ground to shape, with a flat, polished, oval top and long narrow body tapering to a point at the other end.
It is complete and intact, measuring 53.4 mm in length, and 11.5 by 10.4 mm across its maximum dimensions at the top, with a weight of 9.2 grams.
The Accession book entry for this object is published in A. MacGregor et al., 2000, Manuscript Catalogues of the Early Museum Collections 1683-1886 (Part I), p. 297, cat. 519.
This item was collected by John Petherick in the Southern Sudan during the mid Nineteenth Century. P etherick lived in Khartoum from 1853-1858, mounting several trading expeditions into the Sudanese interior during this period. If it was acquired during that time, it would have been shipped back to England in 1859, and probably put up by him for sale in an auction of his material that was held by Mr Bullock of High Holborn, London, on 27th June 1862 (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 contained some 22 ‘bellemites’, divided between lot numbers 94, 100, 104 and 117, none of which are given a cultural attribution. The term ‘bellemite’ presumably refers to the shape, which is similar to the fossil of the same name. The buyer of this example was Henry Christy, who is known to have purchased other items at this particular auction. Alternatively, the lip plug could have been collected during Petherick’s second period in the Sudan, from 1862 to 1863, shipped to England in 1865 and sold at a later auction. After passing into Henry Christy’s possession, the ornament was subsequently acquired by the Ashmolean Museum by exchange from the Trustees of Henry Christy collection in 1869; they also call it a bellemite. It was then transferred to the newly formed Pitt Rivers Museum in 1886.
Museum records suggest that this object is Zande. None of the ‘bellemites’ in the 1862 auction were given a clear cultural attribution, although some were grouped within lots that included Zande material, perhaps explaining the source of this attribution. However note that Petherick himself makes no reference to the Zande wearing plugs of this type. He does however refer to the Jur and Moru making use of them: “ Female decoration of both upper and lower lip with conical pieces of ground spar passing through and standing out at right angles from the lips, in apparent imitation of the horn of the rhinoceros. The length was generally from one to two inches; but I have seem them five inches long. Some of the women wear this ornament in the upper lip only” (Jur: Petherick 1869, p. 257), and: “the women [wear] a cone of spar in each lip, that in the under one six inches in length, and three-quarters of an inch in diameter at the base, its weight drawing down the lip and displaying the teeth in a revolting manner” (Moru?: Petherick 1869, p. 289).
Note that it this plug is almost identical with 1884.84.84, a lip plug found at Andiboro in Moru territory.
The Accession book entry for this object is published in A. MacGregor et al., 2000, Manuscript Catalogues of the Early Museum Collections 1683-1886 (Part I), p. 297, cat. 519.
Rachael Sparks 25/9/2005.
The Accession book entry for this object is published in A. MacGregor et al., 2000, Manuscript Catalogues of the Early Museum Collections 1683-1886 (Part I), p. 297, cat. 519.
This item was collected by John Petherick in the Southern Sudan during the mid Nineteenth Century. P etherick lived in Khartoum from 1853-1858, mounting several trading expeditions into the Sudanese interior during this period. If it was acquired during that time, it would have been shipped back to England in 1859, and probably put up by him for sale in an auction of his material that was held by Mr Bullock of High Holborn, London, on 27th June 1862 (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 contained some 22 ‘bellemites’, divided between lot numbers 94, 100, 104 and 117, none of which are given a cultural attribution. The term ‘bellemite’ presumably refers to the shape, which is similar to the fossil of the same name. The buyer of this example was Henry Christy, who is known to have purchased other items at this particular auction. Alternatively, the lip plug could have been collected during Petherick’s second period in the Sudan, from 1862 to 1863, shipped to England in 1865 and sold at a later auction. After passing into Henry Christy’s possession, the ornament was subsequently acquired by the Ashmolean Museum by exchange from the Trustees of Henry Christy collection in 1869; they also call it a bellemite. It was then transferred to the newly formed Pitt Rivers Museum in 1886.
Museum records suggest that this object is Zande. None of the ‘bellemites’ in the 1862 auction were given a clear cultural attribution, although some were grouped within lots that included Zande material, perhaps explaining the source of this attribution. However note that Petherick himself makes no reference to the Zande wearing plugs of this type. He does however refer to the Jur and Moru making use of them: “ Female decoration of both upper and lower lip with conical pieces of ground spar passing through and standing out at right angles from the lips, in apparent imitation of the horn of the rhinoceros. The length was generally from one to two inches; but I have seem them five inches long. Some of the women wear this ornament in the upper lip only” (Jur: Petherick 1869, p. 257), and: “the women [wear] a cone of spar in each lip, that in the under one six inches in length, and three-quarters of an inch in diameter at the base, its weight drawing down the lip and displaying the teeth in a revolting manner” (Moru?: Petherick 1869, p. 289).
Note that it this plug is almost identical with 1884.84.84, a lip plug found at Andiboro in Moru territory.
The Accession book entry for this object is published in A. MacGregor et al., 2000, Manuscript Catalogues of the Early Museum Collections 1683-1886 (Part I), p. 297, cat. 519.
Rachael Sparks 25/9/2005.
Primary Documentation:
Ashmolean Vellum Volume I
[List of Anthropological objects transferred from the Ashmolean to the Pitt Rivers' museum 1886.
Asiatic, African, Esquimaux and American] [group of pages stuck in vellum volume before page 2, page a] - Feb.
10th 1886.
Transferred to Anthrop.
Mus.
2nd Section.
Received the above numbers [list includes 519], H.
N.
Moseley.
[p.
519] - An ornament of semi-transparent whitish stone (
quartz
) [insert] (stalactite) [end insert] worn by women of the Neam Nam tribe, of East central Africa, it is a well formed cone of 2 1/0 inches high or long, and 9/20 of an inch diameter at the large end, [insert] which is flat, decreasing to a point at the other end [end insert] in shape much resembling the pointed [insert] end [end insert] of a Belleminite [sic - ?].
Worn with the pointed end projecting through a hole in the lower lip.
See "Petherick's Travels" [sic] vol: 1, p.
291.
Given in exchange by the Trustees of the Christy Collection, 1869.
(From Mr Petherick's collection).
H.M.
Consul for the Soudan (He has written a book on "Egypt, the Soudan and Central Africa" 8
o
London 1860).
(See Mr A.W.
Franks' illustrated list [insert] stuck in this book No.
25 (3054) [end insert], and letter, stuck in Ashmolean letter book).
(Not entered in any list of
donations
additions).
(Compare this article with No 483 and 484).
Additional Vellum I Entry [p. opposite 142] - Trans to Anthrop Mus Feb 10th 1886. Traces of original writing on object itself in 1884.
Ashmolean Accession book entry - Objects transferred from the Ashmolean Museum to the Pitt Rivers Museum in 1886 or later: 519. Africa, Nyam Nyam, i.e. Azande. Conical lip ornament of whiteish stone, worn by women. By exchange Trustees Christy coll. 1869.
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the tribes catalogue card [RTS 3/2/2004].
? Related Documents File - [Previously in vellum volume I] Only the to have been returned a duplicate [sic]. 1886.1 general: 25 Conical lip ornt of stalactite E. Central Africa (Petherick coll) (-054).
Written on object - Lot 1[...]7 [very faint ink or pencil, not clear] Central Africa [faded brown ink] LIP STUD. NEAM NAM. CENTRAL AFRICA. CHRISTY Colln. 1869. ASHMOLEAN MUS (519) [black ink; RTS 4/5/2004].
Additional Vellum I Entry [p. opposite 142] - Trans to Anthrop Mus Feb 10th 1886. Traces of original writing on object itself in 1884.
Ashmolean Accession book entry - Objects transferred from the Ashmolean Museum to the Pitt Rivers Museum in 1886 or later: 519. Africa, Nyam Nyam, i.e. Azande. Conical lip ornament of whiteish stone, worn by women. By exchange Trustees Christy coll. 1869.
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the tribes catalogue card [RTS 3/2/2004].
? Related Documents File - [Previously in vellum volume I] Only the to have been returned a duplicate [sic]. 1886.1 general: 25 Conical lip ornt of stalactite E. Central Africa (Petherick coll) (-054).
Written on object - Lot 1[...]7 [very faint ink or pencil, not clear] Central Africa [faded brown ink] LIP STUD. NEAM NAM. CENTRAL AFRICA. CHRISTY Colln. 1869. ASHMOLEAN MUS (519) [black ink; RTS 4/5/2004].
Publication History:
The Accession book entry is published in A.
MacGregor et al., 2000, Manuscript Catalogues of the Early Museum Collections 1683-1886 (Part I), p.
297, cat.
519 [RTS 26/1/2004].
