IDNO

P.57263.RDG

Description

Half-length frontal portrait of a Gikuyu woman with shaved hair, a head ornament of a band of beads upon which numerous bead rings are stung and worn over the ears. She also wears neck ornaments of a bead choker with a shell crop in the centre, a metal ring with a cluster of chains hanging from the centre, and beaded strands. She wears a plain cloth toga-style with a beaded belt.

Place

E Africa; Kenya; Central Province

Cultural Affliation

Kamba [historically Akamba]; Agikuyu [historically Gikuyu; Kikuyu]

Named Person

Photographer

Young, William D. [Photograph Studio]

Collector / Expedition

Ridgeway, William

Date

circa 1890 - 1920

Collection Name

Ridgeway Collection

Source

Format

Print Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

P.57261.RDG to P.57273.RDG were found in C274/2/ which came from C274/. The latter was kept in Wooden Drawer VI.

Place: Entry previously record ‘Kamba’ as place but research shows that the term applies to a cultural group. The two fields have been amended accordingly. [JD 4/10/2006]

Group: The Kamba (Mukamba in singular Akamba in the plural) are a Bantu ethnic group who live in the semi-arid Eastern Province of Kenya stretching east from Nairobi to Tsavo and north up to Embu, Kenya. This land is called Ukamba or land of the Akamba. Depending on the source, they are either the third or the fifth largest ethnic group in Kenya. They speak the Kikamba language. [Source: Ethnologue Online 15th Edition, JD 4/10/2006]

Group: Kikuyu is an alternative name for the group Gikuyu, which live in the west Central Province of Kenya. [Source: Ethnologue Online 15th Edition, JD 19/6/2007]

Biographical Information: See Biographies file for information on William D. Young. [JD 14/6/2007]

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