Waist or breast ornament consisting of a narrow band of hide onto which cowrie shells have been fastened. [N.B. 'DCF 2004-2006 What's Upstairs?' 5/8/2005]

Collection type: Object
Description: Waist or breast ornament consisting of a narrow band of hide onto which cowrie shells have been fastened. [N.B. 'DCF 2004-2006 What's Upstairs?' 5/8/2005]
Geographical reference: Kenya
Africa > Eastern Africa > Kenya
Cultural groups: Kikuyu
Person: Field collector William Scoresby Routledge; PRM source John Harington
Date / Period: Date made: Before 1951
Date collected: By 1951
Acquisition information: Donated: 1951
Materials and processes: Material Cowrie Shell, Material Animal Hide Skin, Process Tied, Process Strung, Process Stitched
Dimensions: Diameter: max 445 mm
Object numbers: Accession number: 1951.10.5
Research and responses: Related Documents File - Letter from John Harington to Beatrice Blackwood dated 25 September, 1951, with information on his decision to donate Routledge's collection to the Pitt Rivers Museum: 'The late W. Scoresby Routledge died in 1939. By his will he appointed me his sole residuary legatee. He left no instructions for the disposal of his scientific or anthropological papers or specimens . . . They were given by me to the Pitt Rivers Museum in conformity with what I believe to have been his intention . . . .' [GI 4/2/2002]