IDNO

N.19514.ROS

Description

Portrait of King Kahaya II of Ankole seated on a chair in the Royal enclosure? holding his sacred staff (decorated with cowrie shells?) and a fly whisk?. The King wears a white fez, a kanzu (white tunic) covered by a dark coloured robe and he also appears to have other items of regalia around his neck. There is some unidentified sacred paraphernalia laid out on a leopard skin next to the King’s chair. In the background is the porch of the King’s house.

Place

E Africa; Uganda; Ankole

Cultural Affliation

?Bahima

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 C31/141/ by the cataloguer. The envelope was kept in box marked C31/ by the cataloguer.
Previously stored on Shelf 4, in group of 4 wooden boxes numbered 180.

Exhibition: A reproduction of this image was exhibited in Collected Sights in the section Africa with the descriptive label:
"The Ankole king with sacred bow and spear. Roscoe described the king as ‘noted for his height, being about 6 feet 7 inches’ tall. Every morning the staff or sceptre he is seen holding was handed to him, which he first held to his forehead and then against each shoulder to destroy all magic spells of the previous night.” [Sudeshna Guha 26/11/02]

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 11/9/2007]

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 11/9/2007]

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Elisabeth Deane 6/9/2007]