IDNO

P.57272.RDG

Description

Full-length studio portrait of two unmarried Kamba women. The woman has short hair that has been rolled into knots; ear ornaments of rings of metal threaded through bands which are worn across their foreheads; numerous neck ornaments of metal? rings from which chain drops and discs hang from the centre. The women wear rows of beads attached to form a skirt with discs down the centre, and from which a bead apron hangs from underneath. Leather straps with fringing hang from the waist to form an apron at the back. Rows of beads are also worn around the ankles, and metal spirals are worn around the upper and lower arms and calves. The studio backdrop is painted with a European style forest. [JD 2/7/2007]

Place

E Africa; Kenya; Eastern Province

Cultural Affliation

Kamba [historically Akamba]

Named Person

Photographer

Young, William D. [Photograph Studio]

Collector / Expedition

Ridgeway, William

Date

circa 1890 - 1920

Collection Name

Ridgeway Collection

Source

Hobley, Charles William

Format

Print Black & White Mounted

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.

See also the correspondence between ?Hobley and Ridgeway.

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]

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