Nuer toy figure
Other views of this artifact:
Accession Number:
1936.10.83
Country:
Sudan
Region:
[Southern Sudan]
Cultural Group:
Nuer
Maker:
Made by boys.
Date Made:
By 1936
Materials:
Clay , Pigment
Process:
Modelled , Dried , Painted
Dimensions:
Ht = 147, L = 182, W = 43.6 mm [RTS 13/10/2004].
Weight:
745.5 g
Other Owners:
This object was probably collected in 1935 or 1936, when Evans-Pritchard held a research fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust (see E.E. Evans-Pritchard, 1940, The Nuer) [RTS 28/9/2004].
Field Collector:
Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
PRM Source:
Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
Acquired:
Donated 1936
Collected Date:
1935 - 1936
Description:
Toy figure of an ox, hand made from a well levigated gray clay with many tiny mica inclusions (Pantone 7531C), dried in the sun and then the surface painted with white (Pantone 7506C) and black pigment (Pantone 426C).
The figure consists of a cylindrical body, with a broad back and rounded top, but pinched together at the front to form a sharp ridge running vertically down the animal from its face to just above the base of the front hoofs.
The head itself is poorly defined, and dominated by two long horns, one curving away from the face, the other curving in towards it; these probably imitate artificially trained horns.
The tips of these are missing, and no facial details are shown.
Behind the head, the body rises up into an elongated hump with rounded top, with the back widening and becoming slightly concave behind.
A thin piece of clay has been rolled and applied to the rump, to hang down between the legs as the tail; the tip of this has broken off and is missing.
The clay has been pulled out from the underside of the body to form front and back legs; these are not divided until just above their bases, with the undersides being flattened to allow the figure to stand upright.
Another piece of clay has been applied to the underside of the torso, between the back legs, and modelled to represent the testes.
Distinctive colour markings have been added to the surface using white and black pigment in a series of alternating vertical bands - with a narrow white band running down across the head, chest and front legs; a thicker black band running down from the hump, a thick white band covering the back part of the torso to the legs, and then the rump and back legs covered with a thinner black band.
The figure is almost complete, but missing parts of the tail and horns; both areas have also been mended.
It has a weight of 745.5 grams, is 147 mm high, 182 mm long and has a width across the hind quarters of 43.6 mm.
This object was collected by Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard when he held a research fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust (see E.E. Evans-Pritchard, 1940, The Nuer ), either during May to July 1935, when he worked amongst the Nuer Lou and Eastern Jikany, or from October to November 1936, when he was working amongst the Karlual section of the Nuer Leek, in Western Nuerland (pers. comm. Chris Morton 2004).
This figure is probably an ox, rather than a bull, as the Nuer generally only train and decorate the horns of their castrated male cattle (ox being a term that is often applied to castrated bovine quadrupeds, whereas bull used more generically for the male of the species). This object was published by J. Coote, in "‘Marvels of Everyday Vision’: The Anthropology of Aesthetics and the Cattle-Keeping Nilotes", J. Coote & A. Shelton (eds), Anthropology Art and Aesthetics, 1992, fig. 10.7 (2nd from left). Coote comments that these figures are labelled Anuak, but are almost certainly all Nuer.
These figures were made by boys, and played with by children of both sexes. Evans-Pritchard says of the Nuer that: “The games of rather older children of both sexes centre round cattle. They build byres of sand in camps and of moistened ashes or mud in villages, and fill the toy kraals with fine mud cows and oxen ... with which they play at herding and marriage” (E.E. Evans-Pritchard, 1940, The Nuer, p. 38). These types of figures are differentiated to show the sex of the animal, and often include details such as hide markings and decorative ornaments (see 1936.10.85-86). They are not confined to cattle, but include wild animals, such as giraffes (1936.10.91, 1936.10.71), lions (1937.34.73, 1937.34.78), buffalo (1937.34.77), and hedgehogs (1937.34.70), as well as people (1936.10.92-93, 1937.34.74-75).
For clay figures made by the Dinka, see S.L. Cummins 1904, "Sub-tribes of the Bahr-el-Ghazal Dinkas", JRAI 34, pp 160-161, and for a photograph of Shilluk children playing with a large group of such figures, see H.A. Bernatzik, 1929, Zwischen Weissem Nil und Belgisch-Kongo, fig. 137.
Currently on display in the Court, case 143A.
Rachael Sparks 18/9/2005.
This object was collected by Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard when he held a research fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust (see E.E. Evans-Pritchard, 1940, The Nuer ), either during May to July 1935, when he worked amongst the Nuer Lou and Eastern Jikany, or from October to November 1936, when he was working amongst the Karlual section of the Nuer Leek, in Western Nuerland (pers. comm. Chris Morton 2004).
This figure is probably an ox, rather than a bull, as the Nuer generally only train and decorate the horns of their castrated male cattle (ox being a term that is often applied to castrated bovine quadrupeds, whereas bull used more generically for the male of the species). This object was published by J. Coote, in "‘Marvels of Everyday Vision’: The Anthropology of Aesthetics and the Cattle-Keeping Nilotes", J. Coote & A. Shelton (eds), Anthropology Art and Aesthetics, 1992, fig. 10.7 (2nd from left). Coote comments that these figures are labelled Anuak, but are almost certainly all Nuer.
These figures were made by boys, and played with by children of both sexes. Evans-Pritchard says of the Nuer that: “The games of rather older children of both sexes centre round cattle. They build byres of sand in camps and of moistened ashes or mud in villages, and fill the toy kraals with fine mud cows and oxen ... with which they play at herding and marriage” (E.E. Evans-Pritchard, 1940, The Nuer, p. 38). These types of figures are differentiated to show the sex of the animal, and often include details such as hide markings and decorative ornaments (see 1936.10.85-86). They are not confined to cattle, but include wild animals, such as giraffes (1936.10.91, 1936.10.71), lions (1937.34.73, 1937.34.78), buffalo (1937.34.77), and hedgehogs (1937.34.70), as well as people (1936.10.92-93, 1937.34.74-75).
For clay figures made by the Dinka, see S.L. Cummins 1904, "Sub-tribes of the Bahr-el-Ghazal Dinkas", JRAI 34, pp 160-161, and for a photograph of Shilluk children playing with a large group of such figures, see H.A. Bernatzik, 1929, Zwischen Weissem Nil und Belgisch-Kongo, fig. 137.
Currently on display in the Court, case 143A.
Rachael Sparks 18/9/2005.
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: [p.
418] [insert] 82-90 [end insert] - [One of] 9 Figures of clay, representing bulls and cows (showing varieties of horn growth, colouring etc), made by boys & used as toys by boys and girls.
ANUAK
.
[pencil insert] ANUAK? [end insert] NUER.
Additional Accession Book Entry [p. 417, in red biro, with line relating these to records 1936.10.82-90] - A15.F36.5 [group shot], 68.18.34-35 [should be 68.18.31-32, shot of 1936.10.72 only, RTS 5/10/2004], PR 458Q, PR 117-118Q.
Card Catalogue Entry - Information as accession book entry, with additional handwritten data: [insert, red] A15.F36.5 PR 117-118Q [end insert], EASTERN SUDAN [ANUAK? covered in white-out, insert] NUER [end insert], [insert, black] These figures are labelled ANUAK but are almost certainly Nuer (info. from Jeremy Coote 1992). Jeremy Coote, "Marvels of Everyday Vision": The Anthropology of Aesthetics and the Cattle-Keeping Nilotes", in Jeremy Coote and Anthony Shelton (eds.), Anthropology, Art and Aesthetics (Oxford Studies in the Anthropology of Cultural Forms, 1), Oxford: Clarendon Press 1992. Copy in Research File - COOTE [RTS 23/7/2004].
Written on object - Toy bull. ANUAK [see publications field below], E. SUDAN. d.d. E. Evans-Pritchard 1936.
Additional Accession Book Entry [p. 417, in red biro, with line relating these to records 1936.10.82-90] - A15.F36.5 [group shot], 68.18.34-35 [should be 68.18.31-32, shot of 1936.10.72 only, RTS 5/10/2004], PR 458Q, PR 117-118Q.
Card Catalogue Entry - Information as accession book entry, with additional handwritten data: [insert, red] A15.F36.5 PR 117-118Q [end insert], EASTERN SUDAN [ANUAK? covered in white-out, insert] NUER [end insert], [insert, black] These figures are labelled ANUAK but are almost certainly Nuer (info. from Jeremy Coote 1992). Jeremy Coote, "Marvels of Everyday Vision": The Anthropology of Aesthetics and the Cattle-Keeping Nilotes", in Jeremy Coote and Anthony Shelton (eds.), Anthropology, Art and Aesthetics (Oxford Studies in the Anthropology of Cultural Forms, 1), Oxford: Clarendon Press 1992. Copy in Research File - COOTE [RTS 23/7/2004].
Written on object - Toy bull. ANUAK [see publications field below], E. SUDAN. d.d. E. Evans-Pritchard 1936.
Publication History:
This object was published by J.
Coote, in "‘Marvels of Everyday Vision’: The Anthropology of Aesthetics and the Cattle-Keeping Nilotes", J.
Coote & A.
Shelton (eds), Anthropology Art and Aesthetics, 1992, figure 10.7 (2nd from left).
Coote comments that these figures are labelled Anuak, but are almost certainly all Nuer [RTS 22/9/2004].
