Materials Identification Workshop

On Thursday 15^th October, museum professionals and academics journeyed from far and wide (London and Derby!) to the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM) in Exeter for a workshop in identifying the natural materials museum objects are made from. The event, which was jointly run by the Natural Sciences Collection Association (NatSCA) and the Museum Ethnographers Group (MEG), was led by Paolo Viscardi, from the Slade Museum, UCL.

The workshop was made accessible to all museum professionals and students who work with ethnographic and natural history collections but who don’t necessarily have a background in biological science.  This free session was well attended and provided important breadth and depth information pertaining to the workshop’s theme of identifying claws, teeth, horn, ivory and bones.

Paolo began the day explaining the relevant facts relating to existing CITES  (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) and HTA legislation, (Human Tissue Act) it helped to clarify the what-to-do scenario for museum professionals if they cared for items that needed to be registered, even licensed. This led to a discussion in how to correctly identify chemicals museum items may have been treated with, both for health and safety and for ethical reasons.

With the help of comparative images and a vast array of practical examples from RAMM’s stores, Paolo illustrated the subtle but recognizable differences between the different types of materials. This even included a successful identification of one item that had been described in the original documentation as a ‘leopard tooth amulet’ that had been given to a military officer in northern Nigeria by a local chief who asked him to wear it because it would protect him from harm.  This item did not have the expected curvature of a feline tooth but its straight shape, which was partly covered in leather, appeared to resemble the tooth of a crocodile!

Another highlight of the day was solving the mysteriously labeled “rhino horn?” clubs in RAMM’s Ugandan collection. These two objects were unassuming plain batons topped with a heavy round head and appeared to resemble a dark wood. How does one discern wood from rhino horn?  Producing a flashlight app on his phone, Paolo demonstrated that the best way to do this was to shine the light against the item.  It was clear that the light could be seen glowing through the fibrous material, which confirmed both clubs as being made of this material.  As a consequence the database has not only been updated but the artifacts are now in a more secure location; the theft of rhino and elephant horn from museum collections is unfortunately a sad reality.

The workshop was a success and served as a practical introduction to material identification. Hopefully many attendees were inspired to return to their own collections with a refreshed and enriched perspective.  What the session had highlighted was that training sessions such as this one was highly valued and that there was a need, especially for those who weren’t able to attend that day, for further sessions to be run. This MEG will do in 2016.

Materials Identification Workshop

 

 

Location: Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery, Exeter

Jointly run by the Museum Ethnographers Group (MEG) and the Natural Sciences Collections Association (NatSCA)

Course leader: Paolo Viscardi

Maximum number of attendees: 40

Price: free to attend

Date: 15 October 2015

10.00am  – 3.00pm

Enquiries: Tony Eccles

Museum staff caring for collections will understand how important it is to be able to identify the materials objects are made from.  By working with colleagues across different fields of expertise, collections become accessible.  Managing knowledge of related legislation ensures that collection management is done responsibly and ethically. 

Historic items often employ ivory as a decorative element, but is it elephant ivory or walrus ivory?  Do you know the difference between them?  Items of jewellery and other items brought to the UK over 100 years ago were sometimes decorated with animal and human remains; bone, horn and teeth.  But would you be able to identify them?  This workshop will examine snake, fish and whale bone even the teeth of a wild cat and dogs.  With anything made from bone one needs to be able to identify the species of animal, indeed it could even be human.  With this in mind, museum staff should be aware of the current CITES and Human Tissue Act legislation.

The workshop aims to provide museum professionals and students with an opportunity to learn how to identify raw materials and understand how current legislation can guide best practice in the museum environment.

Online booking via eventbrite

 

Dr Bawtree missing artefacts...

My name is Michael Borsk and I am a third year history major studying at the University of Toronto. I'm currently working at Awenda Provincial Park on the shores of Georgian Bay as the Natural Heritage Education Department's Cultural Heritage Specialist.

In the course of our research, I came across an early 19th century report from a Doctor Bawtree, who excavated some Huron ossuaries around Awenda. In the foot note of his report on his findings, he notes that these specimens are destined for the Fort Pitt Museum. Among them are a collection of pipe and pottery fragments, a conch shell, and rusted sword. In attempting to locate these artefacts, I read an article from the 1985, No. 17 Newsletter by the Museum Ethnographers Group addressing the location for these specimens. While they had not yet been found in 1985, I am wondering if they resurfaced in the past 30 years and if any of your members may know their whereabouts. We currently have Dr. Bawtree's watercolour sketches of his findings, but we would like to get images of the artefacts themselves to add to the Park's archives.

If any MEG members can help with this enquiry, please contact Michael direct via email

Identifications for the Kent and Sussex Uniques project

Hastings Museum has three Mfengu bead ornaments with amazingly long panels, from South Africa. Len Pole and the curator, Catherine Harvey is keen to know of other museums with this particular type of ornament. These ones were probably donated to Hastings by G.P. Floureaux. All are similar to the one illustrated in Margret Carey’s Beads and Beadwork of East and South Africa, fig. 23 Shire Ethnography publications, 1986).

One of these extra long panelled ornaments featured in a group of Xhosa beadwork auctioned by Bonhams in November 2011.

A brief history of the Mfengu people is given on the Ekwazantu site

“The Mfengu are Nguni people, mostly of Bhele, Hlubi and Zizi origin, who fled during the early 19th century upheavals in Natal known as the Mfecane - Lifaqane or Difaqane. They arrived in what is today the Eastern Cape - where they were eventually suppressed by the local Xhosa chiefs. Their tribal name Ama-Fengu, Fingo or Mfengu,  means 'The Wanderers'  or 'Foreigners'. Mfengu speak what we call the Xhosa language, but do not consider themselves Xhosa. Their beaded tribal dress was adapted from the Xhosa, but remained with distinguishing factors. All over the region, a person's home area, ethnic sub group, age, marital status and sometimes the amount of children one had, could all be communicated through items of dress’.

On the web I also came across this little booklet featuring South African beadwork on stamps by 8^th Definitive, produced in 2010.

Hastings also have three clay pipe bowls labelled as Asante from Ghana, acquired from the Misses Brandford Griffith. Len Pole says: see comments by Cole in Arts of Ghana, pp 55-59; also Pipe Book, p.184.  Sir William Brandford Griffith was governor of the Gold Coast from 1885-95, but he was unlikely to have visited Kumasi. A selection of Ghanaian pipe bowls can be found on the pages of the Amsterdam Pipe Museum devoted to African Pipes. You’ll find figured examples from the Lobi and Frafra as well as the Asante.  

The British Museum has a detailed description of two small gold and wood tobacco pipes held as part of its Asante Gold Regalia, in the online collection group catalogue authored by Fiona Sheales. 

Are there any other museums with Asante figured pipes out there? A collections search for tobacco pipes Ghana brings up another Asante pipe, a museum number Af, Cb.10, in the form of a letter, unfortunately with no photo yet.

Rachel Hemingway-Hurst from Uniques has just announced that this project's own website has gone live. Do take a look! 

Antonia Lovelace

MEG Chair and Curator of World Cultures, Leeds Museum

Identifications for the Kent and Sussex Uniques project

Australian headdress 1997.5 Bexhill, BEXHM : 1997.5

This is described as a ‘Headdress with parrot feathers’, and was donated by a Miss C P Wills. I think these are emu feathers because of the similarity of the feathers to a Leeds example, LEEDM.F.1970.0010:

The Leeds example has an old label: "Head ornament of emu feathers worn by aboriginal men at some of their dances. N.Queensland”. Unfortunately the source details are lost, and now recorded as Unknown. The date is estimated at 1890-1920.

As laid out in the photo the Leeds headdress looks more like a waist ornament (?). The Bexhill example seems to have a much thicker group of cord ties at the sides, and the feather strands seem very untidy. As Len Pole comments, It is 'impossible to see what this might look like without putting it on a head-shaped mount; it could be imposing’. Do the cords separate out to form a semi-regular fringe? Or when worn would the fringe be spiralled round to make a chunky cluster or plume? The most frequent good photos online of Queensland emu feather headdresses are of a Mornington Island type headdress, from the Gulf of Carpentaria, north Queensland. For example, see the discussion thread 'Australian Aboriginal artifacts 8 – Mornington Island ceremonial headdress’ 

This took me to a photo of a similar headdress at the National Museum of Australia which has lots of contextual historical detail.

Gambling tokens, Sudan? Bexhill Museum BEXHM : 2004.5.23

This group of engraved brown nut shells are presumed to be gambling tokens, one is said to be carved with a sexual symbol.. they are used in a gambling game banned for its destructive influence. Sudan. Len Pole says see similar examples at Powell-Cotton museum.

I had not come across anything like these before, but some of the designs look similar to modern gourd carvings from West Africa, particularly one piece from Ghana, which is possibly Asante.

Carved gourd ornament, Ghana, 1960-1980. Leeds LEEDM.F.2009.5.30. Transferred from Hampshire County Museum and Archive Service.

I checked out Brazil seed carvings on this website but nothing similar there.

There is a huge range of game counters illustrated on these pages at Etsy, but again no direct similarities, and nothing either here which has a good list with short descriptions and illustrations of the different board games in Africa.




Large rooster puppet with pendant dangles, Bexhill Museum BEXHM : 1999.35

This is described as “Santali instrument an aboriginal tribe of N. Bengal, wood with bird ornament on top and hanging wooden blocks below”. Wikipedia now has a detailed well-referenced entry on the Santhal or Santal people of India, and they were one of the peoples whose art featured in the Quay Branly exhibition ‘AutreMaitres de L’Inde’ (Other Masters of India) in 2010. However, I found this website difficult to read, and it seems to link closely to another exhibition in Germany on Santal musical instruments. There was nothing here on Santal rooster bird puppets or bird scarers, and similarly there is nothing in another website I was hoping would be useful here.

MEG and Bexhill would love to hear from anyone who has seen similar items to these, or has them in their museum collections. The contact at Bexhill Museum is Julian Porter.

Antonia Lovelace

MEG Chair and Curator of World Cultures, Leeds Museum