Zande tray
Accession Number:
(1934.8.127)
Country:
Sudan
Region:
Western Equatoria Li Rangu
Cultural Group:
Zande
Date Made:
By 1933
Process:
Basketry , Twill
Local Name:
tongo
Other Owners:
Collected by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton and his wife on 28th April 1933 during a shooting expedition
Field Collector:
Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton & Hannah Powell-Cotton (nee Brayton)
PRM Source:
Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton
Acquired:
Donated 1934
Collected Date:
28th April 1933
Description:
Square twilled basketry winnowing-tray.
Collected by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton and his wife Hannah at Li Rangu on 28th April 1933, during a shooting expedition. In the 1930's when they visited it, Li Rangu was a centre of foreign contact for the district (N. Barley, 1994, Smashing Pots, p. 144).
This type of tray is said to be called tongo by the Zande. Larken publishes a photograph of a woman in the process of winnowing grain, using a square winnowing tray known as a kiaga (P.M. Larken, 1926, "An Account of the Zande", Sudan Notes and Records IX no. 1, pl. VIII and 1927, "Impressions of the Azande", Sudan Notes and Records X, p. 115). He states: "Weaving is done by the men … Split stems of certain grasses are scraped free from pith, forming thin strips as wide as a pencil, with a hard, polished surface, and edges that are absolutely parallel … of similar manufacture [to sleeping mats and flat bags] are the trays, kiaga, two feet square, with edges an inch or two in height stiffened with wood, that are used for winnowing grain" (P.M. Larken, 1927, "Impressions of the Azande", Sudan Notes and Records X, p. 133).
Rachael Sparks 25/9/2005.
Collected by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton and his wife Hannah at Li Rangu on 28th April 1933, during a shooting expedition. In the 1930's when they visited it, Li Rangu was a centre of foreign contact for the district (N. Barley, 1994, Smashing Pots, p. 144).
This type of tray is said to be called tongo by the Zande. Larken publishes a photograph of a woman in the process of winnowing grain, using a square winnowing tray known as a kiaga (P.M. Larken, 1926, "An Account of the Zande", Sudan Notes and Records IX no. 1, pl. VIII and 1927, "Impressions of the Azande", Sudan Notes and Records X, p. 115). He states: "Weaving is done by the men … Split stems of certain grasses are scraped free from pith, forming thin strips as wide as a pencil, with a hard, polished surface, and edges that are absolutely parallel … of similar manufacture [to sleeping mats and flat bags] are the trays, kiaga, two feet square, with edges an inch or two in height stiffened with wood, that are used for winnowing grain" (P.M. Larken, 1927, "Impressions of the Azande", Sudan Notes and Records X, p. 133).
Rachael Sparks 25/9/2005.
Primary Documentation:
Accession Book Entry
[p.
248] 1934 [insert] 8 [end insert] -
MAJOR P.
H.
G.
POWELL-COTTON
, Quex Park, Birchington, E.
Kent.
Specimens collected by himself & Mrs Cotton, during hunting trips, 1933, viz: [...] [p.
260] - From the
ZANDE
tribe, LIRANGO, YAMBIO, DINGBA & TAMBURA [...] [insert] 127 [end insert] -
Tongo
, square winnowing basketry-tray, twilled, LIRANGO (954).
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the catalogue card [RTS 10/2/2004].
Related Documents File - Typewritten List of "Curios Presented to Dr. Balfour by Major & Mrs. Powell-Cotton. Zande Tribe". This object appears as item 954: “Winnowing basket, 1'7" square, native name Tongo , 28/4/33 Lirango, 4.40 N 28.20 E”. Also contains details of a cine film 'some tribes of the Southern Sudan', taken by Powell-Cotton during this 1933 expedition, copies of which are now in the National Film and Television Archive and the Powell-Cotton Museum in Kent [RTS 14/3/2005].
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the catalogue card [RTS 10/2/2004].
Related Documents File - Typewritten List of "Curios Presented to Dr. Balfour by Major & Mrs. Powell-Cotton. Zande Tribe". This object appears as item 954: “Winnowing basket, 1'7" square, native name Tongo , 28/4/33 Lirango, 4.40 N 28.20 E”. Also contains details of a cine film 'some tribes of the Southern Sudan', taken by Powell-Cotton during this 1933 expedition, copies of which are now in the National Film and Television Archive and the Powell-Cotton Museum in Kent [RTS 14/3/2005].
