1884.117.36

Collection type

Object

Description

Beadwork plaque showing a view of Venice.

Long description

From Conservation Card by Robert Pearce 06/12/2000 - Beadwork plaque showing a view of Venice. Disc of wood into which is set beads embedded in a waxy (possibly filled beeswax) resinous material. Design shows gondola on canal in Venice with vine leaves, grapes, etc. Most beads not strung. Outer red beads are strung. [MJD 30/1/2009]

Geographical reference

South Africa

Africa > Southern Africa > South Africa

Cultural groups

Zulu

Person

Maker Unknown Maker

Field collector Unknown Collector

PRM source Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers founding collection

Date / Period

Date made: Possibly before 1881

Date collected

?Prior to 1881

Acquisition information

Donated: 1884

Materials and processes

Material Bead, Material Glass, Material Wood Plant, Process Beadwork

Dimensions

Diameter: max 406 mm

Object numbers

Accession number: 1884.117.36 PR no.: 30/ 12099

Research and responses

In July 1884 this object was listed as having been re-received at South Kensington Museum [to judge by the second green book entry, 208.6878] which suggests that it had been removed by Pitt Rivers temporarily at an earlier date. [AP Leverhulme project on founding collection 1995-1998]

For a similar object, see 1884.117.102. The latter object is illustrated and discussed on page 60 of Beads and Beadwork of East and South Africa (Shire Ethnography 3), by Margret Carey (Princes Risborough: Shire Publications, 1986). In the accompanying text (same page), Carey writes: 'Following contacts with Europeans[,] goods began to be made for a western market. Some were the product of mission stations, where Africans were taught "useful" skills. In Victorian and Edwardian times, mission schools supplied goods for fund-raising bazaars, and some beadwork would have been included. A beaded plaque depicting the Lion of St Mark, described as "Kaffir, from the borders of Kaffirland", predates 1884. It is in the style of Berlin woolwork of the period and must have come from a mission.' These comments would also apply to 1884.117.36. [JC 7 2 2001]

Associated publications

Illustrated in black and white as Figure 1.3 on page 4 of 'Gender in the Making, Trading and Uses of beads: An Introductory Essay', by Lidia D. Sciama, in Lidia D. Sciama and Joanne B. Eicher (eds), Beads and Bead Makers: Gender, Material Culture and Meaning (Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Women, Vol. 19), Oxford: Berg (1998), pp. 1–44. Caption (same page): 'Figure 1.3 The Island of Saint George, Venice (Oxford, Pitt-Rivers [sic] Museum).' [JC 12 8 2015]

Search terms: Trade, Figure, Plaque