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Pitt Rivers Museum

2008.87.1

Ceremonial fan decorated with ostrich feathers. [MdeA 01/09/2008]


2008.87.1

Digital asset copyright: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford

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Collection type
Object
Description
Ceremonial fan decorated with ostrich feathers. [MdeA 01/09/2008]
Long description
Ceremonial fan. The fan consists of a main central section decorated with leather, an outer fringe of ostrich feathers and a handle covered in leather with a loop for suspension at the end. The central section of the fan consists, on both sides of the fan, of a base layer of card [this card is printed and probably recycled] to which has been stitched a layer of brown leather and then a layer of black leather. The brown leather has been stitched to the card with thick undyed cotton yarn. The black leather has been stitched to the brown leather with a strip of red leather. A central panel of leatherwork has been stitched to the black leather with a white leather strip. The leather is mainly red in colour but has geometrical designs worked in black and white strips of leather threaded through perforations. There are seven large perforations in the central red leather which show some yellow and blue cardboard below. The feathers are held between the two faces of the fan by the stitching them by machine to the outer cardboard strip. The feathers are undyed cream / grey. The feathers are trimmed at the outer edge. [MdeA 01/09/2008]
Geographical reference
Northern Nigeria
Person
Field collector J.L. Farrington
PRM source Patricia Farrington
PRM source Helen Forster
PRM source Richard Farrington
Date / Period
Date made: Before 1960-1965
Date collected
1960 - 1965?
Acquisition information
Donated: 12/07/2006 Found unentered: 2008
Materials and processes
Material Ostrich Feather Bird, Material Animal Leather Skin, Material Cotton Seed Fibre Yarn Plant, Material Cardboard Paper Plant, Process Stitched, Process Recycled, Process Perforated
Dimensions
Width: max 640 mm approx, Length: max 720 mm excluding suspension loop, approx
Object numbers
Accession number: 2008.87.1
Research and responses

See Related Documents File for biography of Sir Ahmadu Bello. [MdeA 01/09/2008]

Search terms: Fan, Ritual and Ceremonial, Ceremonial Object