1994.28.1

Collection type

Object

Description

One of a pair (the left) of incised and painted buffalo horns, showing scenes from the South African War. It has a metal attachment, presumably for hanging.

Geographical reference

South Africa

Africa > Southern Africa > South Africa

Cape Province Bedford District

Person

Field collector Alfred Milner

PRM source Harvey McGregor

PRM source Fellows (properly, Scholars) of New College

PRM source New College, University of Oxford

Date / Period

Date made: Circa by 1904

Date collected

circa 1904

Acquisition information

Donated: 06/1994

Materials and processes

Material Buffalo Cattle Horn Animal, Material Pigment, Material Metal, Process Incised, Process Painted, Process Perforated

Dimensions

Width 90 mm mouth, Length 450 mm

Object numbers

Accession number: 1994.28.1

Research and responses

For a detailed and well-illustrated account of five similarly decorated horns (two pairs and a single) in the collections of the Natal Museum, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, see 'A Glimpse of Colonial Life through Zulu Eyes: 19th Century Engraved Cattle Horns from Natal', by Tim Maggs, in the Natal Museum Journal of Humanities, Vol. 2, pp. 143-62. (Photocopy in RDF.) [JC 4 9 2009]

According to two illustrated accounts published on the web in 2003 and 2005 concerning another example in the collection of Michael Stevenson, there is also an example in the South African National Gallery (apparently published as number 10 in The Mlungu in Africa: Art from the Colonial Period, 1840-1940, by Michael Stevenson and Michael Graham-Stewart (Cape Town: Stevenson, 2003)) and one in 'the Bowmint collection in Pretoria' (apparently published on pages 11-12 of Land and Lives: A Story of Early Black Artists, by Elza Miles (Cape Town: Human & Rousseau; Johannesburg: Johannesburg Art Gallery, 1997)). (Printout of web pages in RDF.) [JC 4 9 2009]

According to a personal communication from Val Ward during a research visit on 6 October 2009, such incised and painted buffalo horns also feature in Elizabeth Anne Dell's Ph.D. thesis 'Museums and the Representation of Savage South Africa' (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 1994). Apparently Dell discusses or refers to examples in the British Museum, the Smithsonian, the South African National Gallery, the KwaZulu Cultural Museum, and the Natal Museum. [JC 12 10 2009]

For an illustrated account of two pairs of incised and painted horns and a single incised and painted horn in the collection of the Natal Museum in Pietermaritzburg, see page 12 of Land and Lives: A Story of Early Black Artists, by Elza Miles (Cape Town: Human & Rousseau; Johannesburg: Johannesburg Art Gallery, 1997). (Photocopy of relevant pages in RDF.) [JC 14 3 2019]

Associated publications

Either this or 1994.28.2 is listed as no. 17 in The Archives of New College, Oxford: A Catalogue by Francis W. Steer (London: Phillimore, 1974). [JC; JC 4 9 2009] Illustrated, with its pair, as the frontispiece to Volume 2 of The Milner Papers, edited by Cecil Headlam (London: Cassell, 1931-3) (photocopy in RDF). Caption reads: 'History of the South African War, painted by native of the Bedford District, Cape Colony.' [JC; JC 4 9 2009] Detail illustrated in black-and-white on page 158 of Oxford University Gazette, Vol. CXXVI, no. 4402 (Thursday 23 May 1996) (photocopy in RDF). [JC 5 7 1996] Illustrated in colour on pages 18 and 19 of Oxford & South Africa (Oxford: Oxford University External Relations Office, 1996). [JC?] These objects (1994.28.1 and 1994.28.2) are the subject of 'Decorated Cattle Horns: A Very Preliminary Report', by Val Ward, in The Digging Stick, Vol. 26, no. 3 (Dedember 2009), p. 15-16. (Photocopy in RDF.) [JC 14 10 2019]

Search terms: Animalia, Ornament, Animal Part