MHM 007650:001 :: figur

Object description

Kvinnlig figur av lergods. Statyetten föreställer en sittande kvinna i

ljust blå klädedräkt. Hon har utsläppt svart hår som hålls på plats med

ett vitt och blått pannband. Runt handlederna har hon blå och vita

armringar. Märkt i botten: Elizabeth Rowland 1975.

I botten på statyetten finns ett hålrum där det sitter en ihoprullad

papperslapp. På den står: "Elizabeth Rowland, 87 Frere Rd, East London.

/ This unique figurine represents a young married Pondo woman seen last

year in Port / St Johns. She had obviously come in from the country to

do her shopping and was / dressed well. The Pondo favour blue blankets -

many years ago the whole tribe went / into mourning white for the death

of a beloved chief and an enterprising trader / introduced Reckittns

Blue to make white whiter. The Pondo used it enthusiastically / and fell

in love with the result and many though not all, have kept to the blue

ever / since. Women edge the blankets with dark blue and white beads,

men wear ordinary ones / with a stripe along the ends, sometimes dyed

either blur or ochre, never worn by the / women. The Pondo also spend a

lot of time on their which, from an early age is / trained and stretched

and weighted and twisted in a manner of embroidery silk to / grew as

long as possible, both men and women do this. Men wear theirs shorter

than / women though. Married women wear the headring of marriage for

some years until they / have born a couple of children, then with early

middle age they shave their heads and do the long skirt and big black

deck of repectability. The tattoos on her / cheeks are the "fear of

Finge" mark, relating back to the days of warring tribes in the

nineteenth century. The dark part is achived with the carbon black out

of torch batteries."

På andra sidan av pappret står: "Clay supplied by S.B. Creus, P.O. Box

362, Grahamstown."