Skip to content
Pitt Rivers Museum
AboutHire the MuseumNewsletterUniversity of Oxford

1936.10.64

Fringed dance skirt made from twisted fibre cords weighted with barrel-shaped pellets of clay [RTS 16/9/2005].

1936.10.64

Digital asset copyright: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford

Terms and Conditions

If you wish to order a high-resolution image and/or licence its use for print or web publication, exhibition, film, promotional product or any other use, whether in the academic or commercial sector of any print run, then please visit photographic services.

Collection type
Object
Description
Fringed dance skirt made from twisted fibre cords weighted with barrel-shaped pellets of clay [RTS 16/9/2005].
Long description
Fringe apron or skirt, consisting of a length of twisted 2 fibre brown cord (Pantone 7531C), that can be used to tie the garment around the waist. This has been used to attach a series of twisted yellow fibre cords (Pantone 7508C), made from single strands which were looped over the top of the waist cord and their bodies twisted together immediately below to create a single hanging piece. This was then weighted just above the base with a roughly barrel-shaped pellet of dark brown clay (Pantone Cool Gray 11C). These are not strictly speaking beads, as they were formed around the cords while the clay was still moist, and cannot be removed without breakage. These mass together to make a thick fringe , while the pellets clash against each other to make a rattling sound. The object is nearly complete, but several pellets have cracked and some are now missing, or fragmentary, while some of the fibre cord has partially untwisted, revealing the flat fibre strips from which it was made. It has a weight of 301.8 grams, and is 780 mm wide, with the ties extended; the body section has a width of 550 mm and length of 180 mm; the fringe cords have a width of 2 mm, and the pellets vary from 20 to 30 mm in length, with a typical diameter of 6 mm [RTS 16/9/2005].
Geographical reference
South Sudan
Africa > Eastern Africa > South Sudan
Cultural groups
Anywaa (Anuak)
Date / Period
Date made: Before 1936
Date collected
March - May 1935
Acquisition information
Donated: 1936
Materials and processes
Material Plant Fibre, Material Clay, Process Twisted, Process Tied, Process Handbuilt, Process Dried
Dimensions
Length: max 165 mm, Depth: max 15 mm, Width: max 530 mm, Width: max 780 mm ties extended, Weight 301.8 g
Object numbers
Accession number: 1936.10.64
Research and responses

Evans-Pritchard conducted his fieldwork amongst the Anuak between early March and May 1935 (E.E. Evans-Pritchard, 1940, The Political System of the Anuak of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, p. 3). This object is slightly reminiscent of 1934.8.10, a Dinka snare made of horse hair weighted with clay [RTS 16/9/2005].

Search terms: Clothing, Dance, Music, Skirt, Apron, Dance Accessory

Further items to explore