Nuer toy figure
Other views of this artifact:
Accession Number:
1937.34.70
Country:
Sudan
Region:
[Southern Sudan]
Cultural Group:
Nuer
Date Made:
By 1936
Materials:
Clay
Process:
Modelled , Pinched , Impressed , Dried
Dimensions:
L = 65 mm, W = 29 mm, Ht = 42.7 mm [RTS 6/7/2004].
Weight:
60.4 g
Other Owners:
Collected by Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard during his last period of fieldwork amongst the Nuer between October and November 1936, where he worked amongst the Nuer Leek in the area west of the Nile [RTS 6/7/2004].
Field Collector:
Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
PRM Source:
Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
Acquired:
Donated 1937
Collected Date:
October to November 1936
Description:
Small hand made figurine of a hedgehog made from a dark gray coloured clay (Pantone 405C).
This consists of a slightly elongated body with a short tapering head with rounded end, four short tapering legs projecting out from the underside at a slight angle, and a short pointed tail hanging downwards from the back.
The back and sides have been covered with a series of small pellets applied to the body and pulled outwards to create spikes, while two similar pellets have been pulled out from the side of the head to form the ears.
Facial details have been added using a circular object such as a twig or piece of grass, with small circular depressions being added behind the ears and on either side of the head for the eyes, two slit shaped impressions forming the nostrils, and a single line drawn across the jaw to form a wide mouth.
The surface seems hard and has probably been sun dried.
The figurine is complete and intact, with a weight of 60.4 grams.
It is 65 mm long, 29 mm wide and 42.7 mm high; the eye depressions have a diameter of 2 mm.
Collected by Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard during his last period of fieldwork amongst the Nuer between October and November 1936, where he worked amongst the Nuer Leek in the area west of the Nile (pers. comm. Chris Morton 2004).
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), 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.
Rachael Sparks 18/9/2005.
Collected by Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard during his last period of fieldwork amongst the Nuer between October and November 1936, where he worked amongst the Nuer Leek in the area west of the Nile (pers. comm. Chris Morton 2004).
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), 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.
Rachael Sparks 18/9/2005.
Primary Documentation:
Accession Book Entry
[p.
38, pencil in left column] 34 [ink]
E.E.
EVANS-PRITCHARD
, M.A., Exeter College.
Specimens collected by himself in the EASTERN SUDAN, vis: [addition in different pen] (Coll.
in 1936)
[p.
41, pencil] 70-75 [ink] [1 of] 6 mud toys, models of animals & man & woman.
1937.34.70 - grey hedgehog (no.
given - LW).
Card Catalogue Entry [tribes] - Information as in the accession book entry, with addition of photographic reference: A9-F4-36 [RTS 23/7/2004; this was checked and is an image of this figure by itself].
Written on object - NUER, A.E. SUDAN. d.d. Evans Pritchard 1937.34.70 [written on a label stuck to underside of figurine, RTS 6/7/2004].
Card Catalogue Entry [tribes] - Information as in the accession book entry, with addition of photographic reference: A9-F4-36 [RTS 23/7/2004; this was checked and is an image of this figure by itself].
Written on object - NUER, A.E. SUDAN. d.d. Evans Pritchard 1937.34.70 [written on a label stuck to underside of figurine, RTS 6/7/2004].
