- Collection type
- Object
- Description
- Brimless basketry hat with square crown strengthened with cane cross-pieces, and a circular 3 colour body with vertical zigzag designs [RTS 2/2/2005].
- Long description
- Basketry hat consisting of a flat, square crown that has been woven from strips of narrow yellow coloured palm fibre, in a twill pattern of over 2, under 2. This has been stiffened across the top with 2 narrow strips of cane that cross at the centre, with sharpened ends that have been pushed through the hat surface at each corner to hold them in place. These have flat upper and lower surfaces, and are a yellowish brown colour (Pantone 7509C). The body of the hat becomes increasingly circular below the crown, where the twill weave continues over most of the surface, varying with a looser weave at the centre of each side; this is made up of vertical and horizontal strips arranged in a geometric design in which the natural yellow of the fibre (Pantone 7508C), which varies to a more orangey hue in places (Pantone 721C) is contrasted with strips that have been dyed a darker brown (Pantone Black 7C). The latter provides the background, over which a series of vertical zigzags and lozenges are picked out in yellow. The design consists of a vertical column at the centre of each side of the hat, composed of 2 stacked lozenges over a triangle with its point facing upwards. The top and bottom shapes have a small yellow dot at their centres; the middle lozenge has a small yellow cross. This motif is flanked by closely spaced parallel zigzag bands, which meet at each corner of the hat to surround additional columns, this time with a triangle, its point facing downwards, at the top, over 2 stacked lozenges. However these corner lozenges are made up of progressively smaller lozenges stacked inside them, rather than being filled with solid blocks of colour. There is a slight flaw in the execution of this design, where one of the corner lozenges takes the form of an angular spiral, rather than a discrete closed shape. Just above the base, the weaving pattern changes yet again to form a neat circular band around the lower edge. This is made up of vertical elements on the inside face in yellow, and 6 rows of orangey brown fibre strips running horizontally around the outside face (Pantone 7516C). These two layers have been sewn together using a very fine, yellow fibre thread. The bottom row has been finished with short strips of yellow palm fibre, plaited around the edge with the loose ends turning upwards at an angle on the inside face. The hat is essentially complete, with a few minor areas of damage around the body where the fibre strips have broken. It has a weight of 19.4 grams, and is 105 mm high. The crown measures 115 by 110 mm along the sides, while the lower edge has an internal diameter of 164 mm. The cross pieces are 7 mm wide, and the narrow fibre strips that make up the body are 2 mm wide [RTS 3/2/2005].
- Geographical reference
- Northern Bahr el Ghazal Western Bahr el Ghazal Warab Lakes Western Equatoria
- Cultural groups
- Zande
- Date / Period
- Date made: Before 1917
- Date collected
- By 1917
- Acquisition information
- Donated: 1917
- Materials and processes
- Material Palm Fibre Plant, Material Cane Plant, Process Basketry, Process Twill Woven, Process Woven, Process Stitched, Process Carved, Process Decorated, Process Dyed
- Dimensions
- Width 110 mm crown, Length 115 mm crown, Height 105 mm, Diameter 164 mm base internal, Weight 19.4 g
- Object numbers
- Accession number: 1917.25.46
- Research and responses
This object was probably collected in the period immediately before World War I (1909-1913, or 1910-1914?, according to Gayer-Anderson's biographical history). It is assumed here that 'Bahr el Ghazal' refers to the province, rather than to the river. At the time this object was collected, the Bahr el Ghazal province was much larger than it is today, extending from roughly the Bahr el Arab all the way to the border with the Belgian Congo; this area is now divided into the districts of Western Bahr el Ghazal, Northern Bahr el Ghazal, and parts of Warab, El Buheyrat and Western Equatoria.
Evans-Pritchard discusses Zande hats in his book, The Azande; his comments presumably refer to the situation back in 1926-1930, when he conducted his fieldwork amongst this group: “In sketches by early travellers Azande men are shown wearing straw hats. Schweinfurth describes them as using ‘a cylindrical hat without any brim, square at the top and always ornamented with a waving plume of feathers; the hat is fastened on by large hair-pins, made either of iron, copper, or ivory, and tipped with crescents, tridents, knobs and various other devices [In the Heart of Africa II, p. 8; This type of hat is depicted being worn at the top of the head, see vol. I p. 439]. The same kind of cylindrical, brimless straw hat was still worn in 1906 when Gezer visited the Azande of Tembura’s kingdom and of the old kingdom of Ezo. This is the old Mbomu hat, called kutuku, and some of the older men still keep to a version of it. The hat which is today fashionable, and has been for some years, is of much the same shape but with two new features: black lateral patterns, often wavy lines, and a broad brim, the first being copied from the Mangbetu and the second from the earliest Europeans” (Evans-Pritchard 1971, pp 70-71). Brock stated that Zande hats were worn from greenish white split grass, being round at the base and square at the top, with patterns around the top in blackened grass. He suggests that the presence or absence of brims was according to fashion, which also determined how the hat's feathers were arranged (R.G.C. Brock, Sudan Notes and Records 1, 1918, 254).
Note that this hat does not show signs of having had any feathers attached, but does have the Mangbetu-inspired colouring without the then fashionable brim. The style of the body and manufacturing technique seems to be shared by contemporary Mangbetu hats, which were made only by men (E. Schildkrout & C.A. Keim, 1990, African Reflections, p. 127 and fig. 7.8). These also used cane to stiffen the crown, a technique they applied to basket bases as well; the baskets they made were often identical to the hat bodies - see Schildkrout & Keim fig. 6.11, which is very close in materials and design to the PRM example being discussed. Brimless hats of this type were being worn by Mangbetu men and occasionally women in the early part of the 20th century (e.g.: African Reflections figure 5.7).
It would appear that this simple brimless hat was being worn by Zande men, as suggested by a wooden figure wearing such a hat, now in the American Museum of Natural History (African Reflections, fig. 7.22), but also by boys during the ceremonies associated with the period after their circumcision (R.G.C. Brock 1918, "Some Notes of the Zande Tribe as Found in the Meridi District", Sudan Notes and Records 1, 251-2). Almost identical hats to this one were collected by Evans-Pritchard in late 1920's to 1930 period, which were apparently used in this way (see 1930.86.32-33 and probably also 1948.2.162-4). These have a straw fringe around the lower edge, but are otherwise almost identical in design [RTS 3/2/2005].
In May 2015 a digital photograph of this object was supplied to Ellen Lekka (Culture Specialist / UNESCO Juba – South Sudan) for use in 'South Sudan Travelling Exhibition: Pilot Phase', a project being carried out by UNESCO Juba in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports of South Sudan, as part of the establishment of a public culture sector through the development of key institutions and as a step towards the creation of a National Museum. [JC 22 5 2014]
Search terms: Clothing Headgear, Basketry, Hat, Headgear