IDNO

N.19305.ROS

Description

Portrait of King Kahaya II of Ankole seated on a deck chair with three official? men and one official? woman of his Court seated on the ground to the left. The King wears a white fez, a kanzu (white tunic), a dark robe over the tunic and white shoes and he holds a walking stick. In front of the King there are five sacred drums and a leopard skin; these drums are also depicted in P.18693.ROS-P.18698.ROS; the two chief drums are made from white cowhide with a black strip across the middle. In the background there is a fence made of elephant grass, probably of the Royal compound.

Physical Condition: Film is a yellow/ brown colour.

Place

E Africa; Uganda; Ankole

Cultural Affliation

?Banyankole

Named Person

Edward Sulemani Kahaya (King of Ankole) (1895 - 1944)

Photographer

?Roscoe, John R.

Collector / Expedition

Roscoe, John R. [Mackie Ethnological Expedition, Uganda, 1919 - 1920]

Date

1919 - 1920

Collection Name

Roscoe Collection

Source

Format

Film Negative Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

This negative was kept in an envelope marked C30/258/ by the cataloguer. The envelope was kept in box marked C30/ by the cataloguer.
Previously stored on Shelf 4, in group of 4 wooden boxes numbered 180.

Biographical Information: "When Kahaya was seventeen years of age, he was taken in hand by the Church Missionary Society, and, after two and a half years’ instruction, was baptised in the Protestant faith.” (Cunningham, J.F., 1905. Uganda and Its People. (London: Hutchinson and Co.) pp. 3 - 24.) [ED 12/9/2007]

Publication: Similar image published in Roscoe, J. 1922. The Soul of Central Africa: A General Account of the Mackie Ethnological Expedition. (London: Cassell and Company, Limited). p. 71 with the caption "Ankole: The King with sacred staff and spears.” And, p. 73 with the caption "Ankole: The King with scared bow and spear.” [ED 12/9/2007]

Drums: "During my stay in Mbarara, the capital of Ankole, I paid frequent visits to the king, and I was able to see and photograph a house in which are the only drums which this King or his people possess. It was a surprise to discover that these people have never been in the habit of using drums in any of their ceremonies or dances ... Though the Ankole people do not use drums, the king has come into the possession of two. These are small, some two feet high and eighteen inches in diameter, and the skin on them is white cowhide with a black strip let in across the middle. They are kept in a hut which is dome-shaped and has no pinnacle. As the hut has only a low doorway to admit both light and air, it is rather dark, and the drums lie side by side on a stand facing the door, thus giving as you enter the impression of two great eyes staring at you” (Roscoe 1922, pp. 94 - 95). [ED 12/9/2007]

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Elisabeth Deane 1/2/2008]