Slightly curved ivory hair pin with groups of incised lines and dashes just below the head. [EC 'DCF 2004-2006 What's Upstairs?' 3/2/2006]

Collection type: Object
Description: Slightly curved ivory hair pin with groups of incised lines and dashes just below the head. [EC 'DCF 2004-2006 What's Upstairs?' 3/2/2006]
Long description: Hair pin carved from a single piece of ivory, consisting of a narrow slightly convex top and a slender body with slightly oval section, tapering to a point at the other end. The body is slightly curved, and has been decorated just below the head with an incised pattern filled with black pigment; according to Petherick, this colour was derived from a tree root. The design consists of a series of lightly incised lines around the top, made up of a few continuous strokes made as the object was turned, probably by hand; they are irregular and overlap one another. Below this are a series of more deeply incised lentoid shaped cuts arranged in 7 to 8 irregular rows, then two more groups of lightly incised spiralling lines. The lower group has a few oblique lines cutting across the pattern. The surface, which is currently a yellowish cream colour (Pantone 7403C) has been polished, and the object is complete and intact. It has a length of 256 mm, measures 3.7 by 3.5 mm at the head, and 3 by 2.8 mm midway down the body, with a weight of 3.8 grams [RTS 27/4/2004].
Geographical reference: South Sudan
Africa > Eastern Africa > South Sudan
Cultural groups: Zande
Person: Maker Unknown Maker; Field collector John Petherick; PRM source Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers founding collection
Date / Period: Date made: On or before 1858
Date collected: ?1858
Acquisition information: Donated: 1884
Materials and processes: Material Animal Ivory Tooth, Process Carved, Process Polished, Process Incised
Dimensions: Length: max 256 mm, Width: max 3.7 mm head, Thick: max 3.5 mm head, Width: max 3 mm body, Weight 3.8 g
Object numbers: Accession number: 1884.71.12
Research and responses: Petherick lived in Khartoum from 1853-1858, mounting several trading expeditions into the Sudanese interior during this period. He entered Zande territory for the first time on 24th February 1858, while on his fifth such expedition, visiting the villages of Mundo, Kangamboo and Baranj. If Zande, this object was probably collected during this trip, as Petherick did not venture into this region again. His collection was shipped back to England in 1859. Petherick most probably put this material up for auction, as some Petherick material in the PRM appears to have lot numbers associated with it; known buyers include Pitt Rivers, Henry Christie, and J.G. Wood. It was not auctioned via Sotheby's, and there is no evidence that it was ever owned by the Royal United Services Institution. It was later displayed in the Bethnal Green and South Kensington Museums (V&A) [RTS 26/4/2004].
The use of similar pins by the Zande are described in Petherick's 1861 volume, Egypt, The Sudan and Central Africa, p. 466: ‘Both men and women wore their hair plaited in thick masses, covering the neck to the shoulders. This they combed out with long ivory pins, from six inches to upwards of a foot in length - one extremity pointed, the other increasing in thickness like a cone, three or four inches of which were carved into pretty patterns, and dyed black with the decoction of a root. When the hair had been arranged, two of the largest of these pins were stuck horizontally through it at the back of the head; between these smaller ones were inserted, forming a semicircle similar to a Spanish lady’s comb’. Compare with Zande hair pins 1886.1.523.1-3 to see if these are likely to be of the same cultural origin. These pins are also described in J.G. Wood, 1968, The Natural History of Man vol. I, p. 489, while Schweinfurth describes Zande men using hair pins of iron, copper or ivory tipped with various devices to fasten cylindrical straw hats in place (G. Schweinfurth, 1873, The Heart of Africa Volume II, p. 8]. For similar pins, see E. Castelli, 1984, Orazio Antinori in Africa Centrale 1859-1861, cat. no. 98, p 72, attributed to the 'Mangbetu, Zande etc' (Museum of Perugia 49650-7). The practice of wearing these pins was still common in the 1920's (P.M. Larken, 1926, "An Account of the Zande", Sudan Notes and Records IX no. 1, p. 32).
For other pins of this type, see 1884.71.10-11, 13 and 1886.1.523.1-3. This example was identified as ivory, not bone, by conservation [RTS 8/12/2004].

Search terms: Ornament, Toilet, Hair Ornament, Toilet Article, Pin