IDNO

N.19697.ROS

Description

‘Old throne’ for the King of Bunyoro: a small stool covered with layers of animal skins with a leopard skin on top, positioned on a grass mat laid out on the floor. The background consists of a white screen with a metal frame.

Physical Condition: Glass plate negative in good condition. [ED 15/1/2008]

Place

E Africa; Uganda; western Uganda; Western District; Bunyoro

Cultural Affliation

Banyoro (Bakitara)

Named Person

Andereya Bisereko Duhaga II (b. 1882 - d. 1924)

Photographer

?Roscoe, John R.

Collector / Expedition

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

Date

1919 - 1920

Collection Name

Roscoe Collection

Source

Format

Glass Negative Halfplate

Primary Documentation

Other Information

This negative was kept in glass negative box marked C32/3/ by the cataloguer. The glass negative box was kept in box marked C32/ by the cataloguer.
Previously stored on Shelf 4, in group of 4 wooden boxes numbered 180.

Publication: Image published in Roscoe, J., 1922. The Soul of Central Africa: An Account of the Mackie Ethnological Expedition. (London: Cassell and Co.), p. 150 with the caption: "Bunyoro: Old Throne of the King’s”. [ED 31/10/2007]

Context: "The court-house was divided into four rooms, of which the front one, into which the main entrance led, was the throne-room, Hamulyango. This occupied about half the building, and in the centre of it, opposite the ivory tusk and the gateway of the enclosure, stood the throne, Nyamyalo, on a platform of earth beaten hard. This platform, which was about two feet high, was covered with a leopard-skin and a lion-skin, and in the centre, over the other two, lay a white cow-skin on which the throne stood. The throne was cut from one solid block of wood, from which the centre was removed, leaving a solid top and bottom joined by eight curved bars or legs of wood, which were left while all the wood between them was cut away. This was ornamented with copper and iron wire, and over it was spread a lion-skin, then a leopard-skin, with, above these, a greyish white skin taken from a young cow. These were arranged by Lukanka, the man who attended to the throne and who had to set it in readiness for the king and then go away. The throne, however, might never be left alone, and two wives of the king slept at night one on either side of it. These women were called Abagarami, and, though nominally wives of the king, had to be virgins; they were on duty for four days at a time, and should one be menstruating or should she have reason to consult a doctor, another had to take her place, for she might not go to the throne.” (Roscoe, J., 1923. The Bakitara (or Banyoro): The First Part of the Report of The Mackie Ethnological Expedition to Central Africa. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). p. 76 - 77). [ED 12/11/2007]

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Elisabeth Deane 12/11/2007]