Gourd-working

Calabash Ladle

• Cultural affiliation: Tsonga
• Place: Mozambique
• Acquisition: presented by Mr P. Ross-Frames, 1926
• Materials: calabash gourd and beads

Calabash Vessel

• Vernacular name: phaphana
• Cultural affiliation: Venda
• Place: Louis Trichardt, Northern Province
• Acquisition: presented 1962
• Materials: calabash gourd, beads and plant fibre

Wood-carving

Khôrô Poles

A palisade of carved poles distinguishes the place of a chief among the Lobedu and related people of the Northern Province. These poles from the capital of Modjadji, widely known as the Rain Queen, surrounded the central courtyard (khôrô) of the village. Each adult man of the district was expected to contribute a pole to the khôrô. Some poles were carved in distinctive forms.

The main source of Modjadji's authority came from the belief in her power to make or withhold rain, which was essential to the prosperity of her people. She was praised as 'Transformer of the Clouds'. Rain, damp places and associated plants were regarded positively as having the ability to 'cool' or dispel negative or evil forces.

These khôrô poles are on loan from the Tzaneen Museum by courtesy of Mr Jurgen Witt.

Figure - Inscribing Tradition

• Cultural affiliation: Mpondo
• Place: Port St Johns, Eastern Cape
• Producer: carved by Mfundisile Ntlola
• Acquisition: purchased in Cape Town, 1998
• Materials: wood, paint, paper

Vessel for milk

• Vernacular name: //hoës
• Cultural affiliation: Nama
• Place: Namibia
• Acquisition: presented by Mr J. Chapman; 19th century
• Materials: made of Acacia or Boscia wood, using a curved blade to hollow the inside and a straight blade for the outside. Nama carvers obtained metal tools through trade from the Ovambo or made them from scrap iron.

Milkpail

• Cultural affiliation: Mpondo
• Place: Bizana, Eastern Cape
• Acquisition: presented by Mr A. W. Rogers, 1901
• Materials: wood; the woodcarver’s toolmarks can be seen inside the pail, and the outer surface shows characteristic vertical patterning.

Carved sheaths for awls

Metal awls were used in skin-working and basketry, as well as for personal use such as removing thorns. The wooden sheath protects the sharp point of the awl, and the carving reflects the individuality and value attached to these personal accessories

Smoking Pipe

• Cultural affiliation: Thembu
• Place: Cala, Eastern Cape
• Acquisition: presented by Mrs H. Mirvish, 1973
• Materials: wood and metal; the fine lead inlay demonstrates the expertise of the specialist pipemaker.

Basketry

Basketry techniques involving coiled sewn work, and weaving, Lesotho and Northern Cape 1970s.

Materials for making a winnowing basket

• Cultural affiliation: Lobedu
• Place: GaModjadji, Northern Transvaal
• Acquisition: SAM fieldtrip, 1975
• Materials: moloha strips (Acacia ataxacantha); lebibye creeper for rim (Cocculus hirsutus).

Winnowing Basket

• Vernacular name: leselo
• Cultural affiliation: North-east Sotho
• Place: Pietersburg, Northern Province
• Acquisition: presented by Mrs H. Dixon, 1960
• Materials: woven by men from strips of Acacia wood and creeper

Basket

• Vernacular name: seroto
• Cultural affiliation: South Sotho
• Place: Setibing, Lesotho
• Acquisition: SAM fieldtrip, 1978
• Materials: made using coiled and sewn technique, with the foundation of moseha grass (Merxmuellera disticha) and the plaited edge of lodi grass (Cyperus marginatus).

Skin-working

Images:

• Nineteenth-century method for cleaning a cow hide for domestic use. I'Ons, c. 1850.
• Similar method of skin-working used in the Eastern Cape in the 1970s.

Pottery

Photographs:

• Stages of shaping, decorating and firing pottery. GaModjadji, 1975.

Beer Pot

• Cultural affiliation: Zulu, Northern Nguni
• Place: Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal
• Acquisition: purchased in Cape Town, 1997
• Zulu women were exceptionally skilled potters, and this tradition continues to the present with innovation in decorative style in response to new markets.

Stone work

Making Serpentine Smoking Pipes

Mr Frederick Cloete of Steinkopf in Namaqualand making stone smoking pipes, March 1998. He and his father learnt the craft from a renowned Nama pipe-maker. Mr Cloete, the only such craftsman still active in Namaqualand, follows traditional manufacturing techniques, using mainly store-bought tools, to carve Nama-style pipes, which follow the form of early Dutch clay pipes, and European-style pipes that together show a continuity of style which has persisted through generations of local pipemakers.

(Labels for Photographs)

Serpentine (magnesium silicate) is found in several colours, and is soft enough to be worked with hand-tools. Only pieces without defects, such as quartz crystals which could weaken the finished pipe, were used (1). The form of the pipe was roughly cut out with a metal hand-saw, the bowl was hollowed out with a hand-drill, and a hole was bored through the stem to the bowl (2). Three hand-made metal drills of increasing length were used in succession to keep the bore straight (3). The pipe was then shaped and rounded with a hack-saw blade and files, before being smoothed with emery-paper and water. Decorative floral motifs were incised with a pocket-knife (4). The pipe was finally polished with a soft cloth (5).

Stone pipes were always made by men, but Nama-style pipes were smoked only by women.

Photographs: G. P. Klinghardt, 1998

Smoking Pipe

• Vernacular names: /ui-!xob, klippyp
• Cultural Affiliation: Nama
• Place: Steinkopf, Namaqualand, Northern Cape
• Acquisition: presented by Rev. H. Kling, 1909
• Materials: serpentine; traditional carving skills in stone have been used to produce a pipe that resembles those imported from Europe as trade goods.

Smoking Pipe

• Vernacular names: /ui-!xob, klippyp
• Cultural Affiliation: Baster
• Place: Steinkopf, Namaqualand, Northern Cape
• Acquisition: SA Museum fieldtrip, 1998
• Materials: serpentine; carved to resemble a Nama stone pipe

Incomplete Smoking Pipe

• Vernacular names: /ui-!xob, klippyp
• Cultural Affiliation: Baster
• Place: Steinkopf, Namaqualand, Northern Cape
• Acquisition: SA Museum fieldtrip, 1998
• Materials: serpentine; carved to resemble a Nama stone pipe

Smoking Pipe

• Vernacular names: /ui-!xob, klippyp
• Cultural Affiliation: Baster
• Place: Steinkopf, Namaqualand, Northern Cape
• Acquisition: SA Museum fieldtrip, 1998
• Materials: serpentine; carved to resemble a European-style wooden pipe

Incomplete Smoking Pipe

• Vernacular names: /ui-!xob, klippyp
• Cultural Affiliation: Baster
• Place: Steinkopf, Namaqualand, Northern Cape
• Acquisition: SA Museum fieldtrip, 1998
• Materials: serpentine; carved to resemble a European-style wooden pipe

Snuffboxes

Snuffboxes were carefully crafted from small fruit shells, horns, wood or reed, and decorated distinctively, as shown in these examples.

Snuffboxes (3)

• Cultural affiliation: Zulu, Northern Nguni
• Place: KwaZulu-Natal
• Acquisition: no history, late 19th century
• Materials: fruit shell, brass and copper wire

Snuffbox

• Cultural affiliation: South Sotho
• Acquisition: no history, but early 20th century; found at Museum in 1959
• Materials: horn and wood

Snuffbox

• Cultural affiliation: Shona
• Place: Harare district, Zimbabwe
• Acquisition: purchased in Cape Town, early 20th century; formerly Camp collection
• Materials: wood

Snuffbox

• Cultural affiliation: Shona
• Place: Harare district, Zimbabwe
• Acquisition: purchased in Cape Town, early 20th century; formerly Camp collection
• Materials: reed

transformations