Hand modelled clay figure of a male lion, used as a toy.

Collection type: Object
Description: Hand modelled clay figure of a male lion, used as a toy.
Long description: Toy figure of a male lion, hand modelled out of a well levigated gray clay with tiny mica inclusions (Pantone 404C). The surface has been irregularly blackened (Pantone black 7C), suggesting that the figure may have been lightly fired. As most other figures in this class seem to be sun dried, it is not known whether this firing was intentional or not. The lion has a cylindrical body, with a slightly triangular head that has a sharp ridge running down the centre of the face, becoming less distinct as it reaches the eyes. Two rounded lugs have been pulled out from either side of the head to indicate the ears, with a large circular depression marking their centres, probably made with a twig. Similar holes mark the eyes, with smaller hollows marking the nostrils below. A slit has been cut across the end of the snout to represent the mouth. The body itself has a convex back, pinched at the top to form a sharp ridge that continues the line from the top of the head, before becoming concave at the lower back then rising up again to form a more rounded rear. A narrow, rounded strip of clay has been added to hang down between the back legs to form the tail; this curls up at its base. At the front, the chest has been similarly pinched to form a ridge that runs vertically down from the base of the neck to just above the front paws. The figure has four short legs, pulled out from the underside of the body, and only really made distinct towards their bases, where four short paws splay out, with flattened undersides, and notches cut into the front to mark the toes, the number of which varies from 6 to 8. These allow the figure to stand unaided. The underside of the body follows a gentle concave curve at the front, with an applied and modelled piece of clay marking the lion's testes. The surface of the figure has been smoothed, but some fingerprints are visible. It appears to be complete, except for some possible damage to the figure's right front paw; the tail has been mended. The figure has a weight of 322.5 grams, is 86 mm high, 132.2 mm long, and 35.5 mm wide across the centre of the body.
Geographical reference: South Sudan
Africa > Eastern Africa > South Sudan
Cultural groups: Nuer
Person: Field collector Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard; PRM source Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
Date / Period: Date made: Before 1936
Date collected: October to November 1936
Acquisition information: Donated: 1937 Found unentered: 05/10/2004
Materials and processes: Material Clay, Process Modelled, Process Pinched, Process Impressed, Process Fire-Hardened
Dimensions: Height 86 mm, Width 35.5 mm, Length 132.2 mm, Weight 322.5 g
Object numbers: Accession number: 1937.34.78
Research and responses: Evans-Pritchard did his fieldwork amongst the Nuer in four expeditions, which took place in 1930, 1931, 1935 and 1936. This object appears to have come into the museum as part of a group of figurines, collected during Evans-Pritchard's last expedition in 1936, when he held a research fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust (see E.E. Evans-Pritchard, 1940, The Nuer). He discusses the use of mud figures by the Nuer: “The games of rather older children of both sexes centre round cattle. They build byres of sand in camps and of moistened ashes or mud in villages, and fill the toy kraals with fine mud cows and oxen ... with which they play at herding and marriage” (E.E. Evans-Pritchard, 1940, The Nuer, p. 38). The material used seems to be a naturally occurring clayey soil, and 'clay' has been chosen here as a better descriptive term than 'mud'.
This particular figure was probably made as the pair to 1937.34.73, a lioness, which shows stylistic similarities, particularly in the treatment of the face and shaping of the feet. However, this is the only figure in the group that appears to have a blackened surface, possibly burnt - all the rest lack signs of firing and were probably dried in the sun.
Similar figures are described in their accession book entries as made by boys, and played with by children of both sexes (e.g.: 1936.10.90) [RTS 12/10/2004].
For clay figures made by neighbouring groups, such as the Dinka, see S.L. Cummins 1904, "Sub-tribes of the Bahr-el-Ghazal Dinkas", JRAI 34, 160-161, and H.A. Bernatzik, 1929, Zwischen Weissem Nil und Belgisch-Kongo, fig. 137 (for a photograph of Shilluk children playing with a large group of such figures) [RTS 15/8/2005].

Search terms: Toy and Game, Figure, Model, Pottery, Animal Figure, Toy