Bari stool
Other views of this artifact:
Accession Number:
1940.12.535
Country:
Sudan
Region:
[Southern Sudan] Bahr el Jebel
Cultural Group:
Bari
Date Made:
By 1921?
Materials:
Wood Plant , Animal Hide Skin
Process:
Carved , Polished , Perforated , Plaited
Dimensions:
Ht = 125, seat L = 197, W = 88, th at edges = 9.8; leg W = 26, th = 20.5; feet L = 35, W = 14, Ht = 37; suspension loop L = 35, W = 5, th = 1.5 mm [RTS 1/6/2005].
Weight:
423.6 g
Other Owners:
Presumably collected by Charles Gabriel Seligman and his wife Brenda Zara Seligman during their visit to the Southern Sudan in late 1921 and early 1922. According to their personal diaries, they travelled south down the Bahr el Jebel to Malek, which they
Field Collector:
? Charles Gabriel Seligman & ?Brenda Zara Seligman
PRM Source:
Charles Gabriel Seligman or Brenda Zara Seligman
Acquired:
Donated 1940
Collected Date:
December 1921 to January 1922?
Description:
Stool carved from a single piece of wood and consisting of an oval seat with an upper surface that is convex across its width and concave along its length.
This has flat cut sides and a flat underside with 2 pairs of legs springing out from the centre at a 45 degree angle.
Each leg is essentially rectangular in section, although the outer face has a very slight curve, and arcs downward, before turning out at the base to form a short rectangular foot with flat sides and ends.
There is an oblique mark burnt across the junction of foot and leg at this point, in some cases accompanied by a very faint groove.
2 raised teeth with flat bases have been carved out from the underside at the centre of each pair of legs, and hang down to form an added decorative element.
A suspension loop made from pale cream animal hide has been attached around the top of the legs (Pantone 7506C).
This has been made from a short hide strip, perforated at its centre and with part of the body drawn through the hole to form a short suspension loop that sits at the front of the stool.
The perforated ends were then wrapped around the stool body, slotted through one another and then interwoven in a short length of herringbone style plaiting to hold them secure at the back.
The wood is a yellowish brown colour (Pantone 729C).
The stool is complete and intact and weighs 423.6 grams.
It is 125 mm high, and its seat is 197 mm long, 88 mm wide and 9.8 mm thick at the edges.
The legs are 26 mm wide and 20.5 mm thick at their mid points, while the feet are roughly 35 mm long, 14 mm wide and 37 mm thick; the suspension loop is made from a strip 5 mm wide and 1.5 mm thick, while the loop itself is 35 mm long.
This object was said to have come from Mongalla Province, an administrative district that had been created in 1906 and was replaced by Equatoria province in 1934; it covered what later became the modern administrative provinces of Eastern Equatoria, Bahr el Jebel and a small part of Western Equatoria (see the map published in H. MacMichael, The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan ). This confirms that the object had been collected before the change of province name, most likely when the object donors, Charles Gabriel Seligman and his wife Brenda Zara Seligman, mounted an expedition to the Southern Sudan in late 1921 and early 1922. According to their personal diaries, they travelled south down the Bahr el Jebel to Malek, which they reached on December 20th. They are likely to have encountered the Bari south of this point, in the province now known as Bahr el Jebel, with their route taking in the settlement of Mongalla (26th December), Baria village (27th December), Juba (5th January 1922), Gondokoro (9th January) and the Bellinian rest house (11th-14th January), before heading southeastwards into the Torit area and Lotuko territory (after information collected by Fran Larson from the unpublished diaries of C.G. and B.Z. Seligman, in the Archives of the London School of Economics, Seligman manuscripts, files 1/4/1 and 1/4/6).
Although called a headrest in the original accession book entry, other objects of similar form have usually been identified primarily as stools - see 1903.2.5 and 1927.70.2, both associated with the Bari, and so that has been given as the main function here as well. The shape is also similar to Bongo stool 1884.3.16.
Rachael Sparks 23/08/2005.
This object was said to have come from Mongalla Province, an administrative district that had been created in 1906 and was replaced by Equatoria province in 1934; it covered what later became the modern administrative provinces of Eastern Equatoria, Bahr el Jebel and a small part of Western Equatoria (see the map published in H. MacMichael, The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan ). This confirms that the object had been collected before the change of province name, most likely when the object donors, Charles Gabriel Seligman and his wife Brenda Zara Seligman, mounted an expedition to the Southern Sudan in late 1921 and early 1922. According to their personal diaries, they travelled south down the Bahr el Jebel to Malek, which they reached on December 20th. They are likely to have encountered the Bari south of this point, in the province now known as Bahr el Jebel, with their route taking in the settlement of Mongalla (26th December), Baria village (27th December), Juba (5th January 1922), Gondokoro (9th January) and the Bellinian rest house (11th-14th January), before heading southeastwards into the Torit area and Lotuko territory (after information collected by Fran Larson from the unpublished diaries of C.G. and B.Z. Seligman, in the Archives of the London School of Economics, Seligman manuscripts, files 1/4/1 and 1/4/6).
Although called a headrest in the original accession book entry, other objects of similar form have usually been identified primarily as stools - see 1903.2.5 and 1927.70.2, both associated with the Bari, and so that has been given as the main function here as well. The shape is also similar to Bongo stool 1884.3.16.
Rachael Sparks 23/08/2005.
Primary Documentation:
Accession Book Entry
[p.
468]
The late Professor C.G.
SELIGMAN, M.D., F.R.S.
Miscellaneous collection presented in part by himself, June, 1940, and in part, after his death, by Mrs B.Z.
Seligman, October, 1940.
[p.
495] 1940.12.535 [Drawing], [p.
496] 1940.12.535 - Wooden head-rest (or stool) supported by four legs.
BARI, WHITE NILE, MONGALLA PROVINCE, A[nglo].-E[gyptian].
SUDAN.
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the catalogue card [RTS 12/2/2004].
Pitt Rivers Museum label - Head-rest (? or stool). BARI, WHITE NILE, MONGALLA PROV., A.E. SUDAN. d.d. Dr C.G. Seligman, 1940.12.535 [rectangular label stuck to side of object, RTS 26/5/2005].
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the catalogue card [RTS 12/2/2004].
Pitt Rivers Museum label - Head-rest (? or stool). BARI, WHITE NILE, MONGALLA PROV., A.E. SUDAN. d.d. Dr C.G. Seligman, 1940.12.535 [rectangular label stuck to side of object, RTS 26/5/2005].
