Gourd with stem still attached, possibly with seeds inside. [NC 13/08/2015]

Collection type: Object
Description: Gourd with stem still attached, possibly with seeds inside. [NC 13/08/2015]
Geographical reference: Kenya
Africa > Eastern Africa > Kenya; Tanzania, United Republic of
Africa > Eastern Africa > Tanzania, United Republic of
Person: Field collector Phoebe Somers; PRM source Juliet Pannett
Date / Period: Date made: Before 1960
Date collected: Circa 1960?
Acquisition information: Donated: 15/03/1996
Materials and processes: Material Gourd Plant, Material Plant Stem, Material Plant Seed
Dimensions: Length: max 250 mm, Diameter: max 65 mm
Object numbers: Accession number: 1996.21.4
Research and responses: In 2020 the Pitt Rivers Museum was a partner in the project lead by the Horniman Museum 'Rethinking Relationships and Building Trust around African Collections' The project commissioned community researchers from Africa to develop new practice around Kenyan and Nigerian collections at the Horniman, the Pitt Rivers Museum, the Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and the World Museum in Liverpool. These comments are from community researcher Njeri Gachihi: "This is indeed a gourd as harvested. As we have seen in the seed cone narrative, the persona of this object depends so much on how or where it was collected from. In the Agikuyu community, gourds were most of the time completely processed to make a vessel for milk or wine. Since this has not been processed thus, I presume that it served a different purpose like the seeds of mubage (Ceasalpinia decapetata) which was commonly used in divination. And since gourds were used in food and drink, this object in a diviner’s place may have played a fertility role." [FB 5/1/2021]

Search terms: Specimen, Plant, Vessel

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