Man's carrying basket decorated with a monkey skull and bead and fabric tassels. [SM (Verve) 24/10/2013]

Collection type: Object
Description: Man's carrying basket decorated with a monkey skull and bead and fabric tassels. [SM (Verve) 24/10/2013]
Long description: Man's carrying basket decorated with a monkey skull and bead and fabric tassels. The basket is made from strips of cane with larger strips of cane tied to the sides, front and base for support. A basketry cane carrying strap is attached to the basket through loops at the side and tied to the front cane support. The monkey skull has two red textile and glass bead ear ornaments tied on with plant fibre string. The basket also has two sets of blue textile and coloured glass bead tassels tied to the front. These blue textile tassels filled with strips of plant leaf and are bound at either end with red, yellow, white and blue yarn. Circular pieces of ?pith have been inserted into the nasal cavity and one eye socket of the monkey skull. [SM (Verve) 24/10/2013]
Geographical reference: India
Asia > Southern Asia > India; Assam Nagaland Arunachal Pradesh Mizoram Meghalaya
Cultural groups: Naga
Person: Field collector Samuel Edward Peal; PRM source Samuel Edward Peal; PRM source Sidney E. Peal
Date / Period: Date made: Before 1897
Date collected: By 1897
Acquisition information: Purchased: 1897
Materials and processes: Material Cane Plant, Material Monkey Bone Animal, Material Wool Textile Animal, Material Pigment, Material Glass, Material Bead, Material Plant Pith, Process Carved, Process Basketry, Process Tied, Process Dyed, Process Strung, Process Perforated
Dimensions: Width: max 330 mm, Width: max 243 mm at top, Length: max 323 mm basket, Length: max 405 mm, Depth: max 205 mm
Object numbers: Accession number: 1897.67.63
Research and responses: It seems clear that the name of the collector and donor should be Samuel Edward Peal of Sibsagar, who died in 1897, although perhaps the items were donated after this death by a relative with the same initials? See biographies for more information [AP 20/08/2013]
Associated publications: Reproduced in colour on page 187 of The Nagas - Hill Peoples of Northeast India: Society, Culture and the Colonial Encounter, by Julian Jacobs with Alan Macfarlane, Sarah Harrison and Anita Herle (London: Thames and Hudson, 1990). "Collection of head-taking baskets decorated with carved wooden heads, monkey skulls, goats' hair and fibrous tassels. Pitt Rivers Museum display." The photos are of the displays in C.19.B and C.19.C at the time of publication. [SM (Verve) 23/10/2013]

Search terms: Basketry, Animalia, Figure, Transport and Travel, Basket, Animal Part, Skull, Carrying Device