IDNO

P.57243.RDG

Description

Two Monsembi women preparing dinner, with one rubbing? leaves over a wooden grate? with a bowl of ground food in the foreground. The second woman is sitting with a basket of nuts? / fruits? with prepared nuts? / fruits? in a smaller bowl. The woman at the front has a row of cicatrisation down the forehead and bridge of nose, down the chest and as a band around the wrist. She wears a grass skirt and a neck ornament. A boy watches in the background and a man holding an axe is cropped by the frame to the right.

Place

C Africa; Republic of the Congo; Monsembi [Monsambe]

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

Photographer

Smith, Kenred (Rev.)

Collector / Expedition

Ridgeway, William

Date

circa 1895 - 1914

Collection Name

Ridgeway Collection

Source

Format

Print Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

P.57192.RDG to P.57260.RDG were found in C274/1/ which came from C274/. The latter was kept in Wooden Drawer VI.

Place: A BMS mission was established at Monsembi (Munsembi, Monsembe, Bonsembe) in 1890. [Source: ‘Protestant missions and the History of Lingala’ William J. Samarin, in Journal of Religion in Africa, Vol. 16, Fasc. 2 (June 1986) pp. 138-163, JSTOR Online, JD 4/10/2006]

Photographer: This photograph appears to be part of the series of prints annotated as being “K. Smith’s Congo phot.” See P.57233.RDG. The record has been amended accordingly. [JD 14/6/2007]

Biographical Information: See Biographies file for information on Reverend Kenred Smith. [JD 14/6/2007]

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [JD 2/7/2007]