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1923.84.626

Basket with strap. Ornamented with two monkey skulls and four boar tusks, a piece of skin and a grass fringe. [DCF Court Team 20/2/2003]

On display

1923.84.626

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Collection type
Object
Description
Basket with strap. Ornamented with two monkey skulls and four boar tusks, a piece of skin and a grass fringe. [DCF Court Team 20/2/2003]
Long description
Basket with strap. Ornamented with two monkey skulls and four boar tusks, a piece of skin and a grass fringe. The basket is made of cane strips with thicker cane strip supports around the sides and at the base. It has two monkey skulls tied to the front. One has a plant fibre string with coloured glass beads tied through the nose and mouth. Four boar tusks are tied to the front as well as a long thin piece of animal skin with black hair and a piece of skin with no hair. Four grass fibre tassels are tied to the front near the base. These tassels are bound at the base with coloured wool. The strap is made from basketry cane strips and is tied through cane loops on the side of the basket [SM (Verve) 23/10/2013]
Geographical reference
India
Asia > Southern Asia > India
Nagaland
Cultural groups
Konyak Naga
Person
Field collector John Henry Hutton
PRM source John Henry Hutton
Date / Period
Date made: Before 1919
Date collected
By 1919
Acquisition information
Donated: 1919, uncertain Donated: 1923, uncertain
Materials and processes
Material Monkey Bone Animal, Material Animal Skin, Material Animal Skull, Material Boar Tooth Animal, Material Cane Plant, Material Animal Hair, Material Grass Fibre Plant, Process Basketry, Process Bound, Process Tied, Process Perforated, Process Twisted
Dimensions
Depth: max 240 mm, Width: max 270 mm, Length: max 750 mm
Object numbers
Accession number: 1923.84.626
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, Status, Transport and Travel, Animalia, Basket, Carrying Device, Animal Part, Skull

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