1884.108.33

Collection type

Object

Description

Pellet bell. Part of a set of pellet bells [1884.108.29-37]. [JID 4/2/2020]

Geographical reference

South-eastern Asia

Asia > South-eastern Asia

Borneo

Cultural groups

Iban

Bidayuh

Person

Maker Unknown Maker

Field collector Charles Thomas Constantine Grant

PRM source Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers founding collection

Date / Period

Date made: Possibly before 1878

Date collected

?Prior to 1878

Acquisition information

Donated: 1884

Materials and processes

Material Brass Metal, Material Plant Fibre, Material Bronze Metal, Process Cast, Process Tied

Dimensions

Height: max 19 mm, Width: max 12 mm

Object numbers

Accession number: 1884.108.33 PR Cat other PR nos: 3359

Research and responses

JG Wood 1870 Natural History of Man: Australia etc p461 - 2 'Among the ornaments which are worn by the Dyaks are the little bells which have already been mentioned as forming part of the appendages of an ear-ring. These ornaments, called 'garunongs', and mostly worn by the women on the edges of the bedang or petticoat, are almost exactly like our hawk-bells, being nothing more than little hollow spheres of brass or bronze about the size of a boy's playing marble, with a small metal ball in the interior by way of a clapper, and a moderately wide slit at the bottom. To some of the bells the remarkable beads are attached. These bells keep up a musical chime or jingle as the wearer walks, and are therefore used in dances and on great occasions. The specimens represented in the illustration were presented to me by C.T.C. Grant Esq., formerly attached to the Borneo Government under the late Sir James Brooke'. [AP Leverhulme project on founding collection 1995-1998]

Search terms: Music, Clothing, Ornament, Musical Instrument, Skirt, Rattle, Bell