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2009.150.29

Fuel box for model nomadic tent. [See 2009.150 .1-.31 for all parts of tent]. [FC 10/11/2009]

2009.150.29

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Collection type
Object
Description
Fuel box for model nomadic tent. [See 2009.150 .1-.31 for all parts of tent]. [FC 10/11/2009]
Long description
Fuel box for model nomadic tent. The box is made from a soft plywood in five pieces, four sides and the base. The sides of the box have been tacked together with metal tacks. One of the sides of the box has a cross written on the inside in pencil. The outside of the box has been painted with red paint, splodges of which are on the bottom and inside of the box. [See 2009.150 .1-.31 for all parts of tent]. [FC 10/11/2009]
Person
Field collector Arthur J Hopkinson
PRM source Giles Hopkinson
Date / Period
Date made: By 1948
Date collected
1948
Acquisition information
Donated: 28/10/2009
Materials and processes
Material Wood Plant, Material Metal, Material Pigment, Process Carpentered, Process Nailed, Process Painted
Dimensions
Depth: max 43 mm, Width: max 51 mm, Length: max 120 mm
Object numbers
Accession number: 2009.150.29
Research and responses

Clare Harris [Reader in visual Anthropology, Pitt Rivers Musem]: Although the object has been described by the donor as a yurt, technically speaking this is not correct as this is a Turkic term used in Central Asia and then exported to the West (hence commonly used). (See the Wikipedia entry for Yurt for more information on this.) Mongolians call the tent a gyer or ger and Tibetans call a white tent a gur. In fact there are many different terms for these portable dwellings in Tibetan - depending on their shape and colour. I suspect that the same will be true for Mongolia. The problem with the model we have been donated is that it was given to Arthur Hopkinson by a Mongolian-Tibetan trader and so could be either Mongolian or Tibetan. I don't know enough about the designs of these tents to be able to say which it is without doing some research. The other issue is that (if I remember correctly) it was presented to Hopkinson in India (probably Darjeeling or Kalimpong) and might have been made there. I am pretty sure that there was a Tibetan handicraft establishment in Kalimpong in the 1930s... The fabric used to make the internal fittings (eg bed covers) suggested to me that it might have been made in India. Monisha Ahmed has a lengthy discussion about the type of tents used by nomads in Ladakh and Western Tibet in her book "Living Fabric" (should be in the Balfour library). However, our model is not of this variety. [FC 12/11/2009]

Search terms: Model, Dwelling, Furniture Dwelling, House, Furniture, Tent

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