The Friends of the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford Magazine

Spring/Summer 2020 Issue7 99 The Friends of the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford

Magazine Summer 2013

Oxford Zoo Silesian Guns The Ainu of Japan Chinese Child’s Tiger Hat Australian Bark Paintings Between Friends

o describe the period since our last Magazine Tissue as odd is an understatement. Since SOUTH PARKS ROAD, OXFORD, OX1 3PP my last ‘Between Friends’ note, the Covid-19- related difficulties seem longer-term than we were psychologically ready to face up to then. Disappointments for future plans were inevitable, and IN THIS ISSUE events that were postponed until the autumn have 2 Between Friends, Editorial and New now receded further into the future. This includes the Friends Kenneth Kirkwood day, which is now timetabled for 3 From the Director, March next year. Museum News I wrote that the AGM would have to be cancelled, but in fact we held it at the advertised time by Zoom, Photo © Studio Edmark 4 Traces of the Past and Losing Venus thanks to Suzanne Attree, PRM Senior Development exhibitions Executive. It was preceded by an illuminating talk and Powerpoint presentation 5 Silesian Gunmaking from our Director, Laura van Broekhoven, about the future of the PRM. There 6 Oxford Zoo were more people “there” than at last year’s face-to-face AGM and it was a 7 Westminster College special joy to see a Friend who joined us from the USA. This gave me the idea of 8-9 Australian Bark Paintings asking Suzi, Laura and our Events Co-ordinator, Juliet Eccles, whether we could “zoom” some of our future talks and the idea was taken up with enthusiasm. 10 Japan: The Ainu Nothing has been definitively fixed yet, and some of the booked speakers are 11 Chinese Child’s Tiger hat currently on furlough, but the possibility is being actively explored and it would 12 Museum Friends’ and Diary Dates be ideal for out-of-town members. I reported at the AGM on the problems of finding volunteers to take on the roles of running the Friends as an organisation. A different model to ensure Cover image: Tiger toy 8 cm long, our survival now seems inevitable and we are coming around to the view that bought in the 1980s from a Hong we need to set up a greater degree of integration between the PRM and the Kong shop. Photo © Felicity Wood. Friends. If this were done, some of the administration and fund-raising could See article on page 11. be handled by the Museum while members would continue to organise talks and produce our magazine. Gillian Morriss-Kay, Chair of the Friends Editorial

o we are suddenly in a not so anywhere in person. Once again as I write we are on target brave new world! Luckily as to get this Issue 99 out to you in a timely and seamless SI am a London resident we had fashion. Thanks to all contributors and my editorial, design already taken steps last year to and distribution team for making this possible! make time and fiscal efficiencies Dawn Osborne, Editor in the editorial process of this Magazine since the rest of the Editorial Committee live in Oxford. Accordingly by the time New Friends Covid 19 hit we were already having our regular editorial New Friends: Roger Ali, Peterborough, Dr. Don Porcelli and Dr. Liz Wilding, Oxford. Photo © Dawn Osborne meetings by Skype and were managing the proofing and To learn more about the benefits of becoming a Friend, design processes all on a virtual basis. We, therefore, or if your details change, please contact the membership managed to get the last Issue 98 out on time as usual even secretary Rosemary King at: [email protected] or though it was prepared and released at the height of the 01367 242433. Please note: Subscriptions were raised to first wave of the pandemic. Additionally, in case members the current rates, which are listed on our website and in are nervous about receiving a hard copy magazine, we the magazine, on May 1st, 2018. All Friends were notified of are also currently making the magazine available on the this increase by letter in January, 2018. Friends who have Museum web site shortly after publication, instead of a few still not raised their payment accordingly are in breach of months later, so access is as easy as possible. We hope the Constitution. Please check what you should be paying. that as most of you stay at home you are able to enjoy a Rosemary King, Membership Secretary. little slice of world culture even if you are not free to go

2 Spring / Summer 2020 From the Director

s you can imagine, this is a challenging time for University has implemented the process. Alongside the everyone involved in museums. We have had to close turmoil and sadness, the pandemic is bringing a new theA Museum and simultaneously undergo a very speedy awareness of what we value in life and the urgency of the adaptation to working remotely, setting up office at home, Black Lives Matter Movement has made us even more sharing our tea and baking in virtual spaces. Microsoft acutely aware of the importance of social justice being at Teams has been a life-saver for all of those working through the core of all that we do. What truly matters: equity, care, the pandemic and has ensured that we can still feel a sense solidarity, art, music, poetry and neighbourly support, of connectivity and togetherness. It has been extraordinary and the need for transforming the Museum so that it can to see the resulting brilliant buzz of creativity and share it truly contribute to becoming an anti-racist society. We will online with all our audiences. actively be part of this new reality as we plan for the future. Although we will reopen in September visits to the Pitt As part of our mission to remain sustainable and to Rivers Museum this summer will only be possible by a enable the Museum to create innovative projects to react virtual visit if you go to https://tinyurl.com/prm-tour . This and adapt to a new environment, we will be approaching enthralling dollshouse view of the Museum has even ended our supporters soon with a proposal for support for the up as the number 1 among virtual museum visits in several Museum, according to individual means, as part of a new top-lists. You can also see more of the buzz of work still Director’s Fund. We suggest that this fund be used to going on behind the scenes through our Twitter site (@ support the most pressing needs of the Museum while we Pitt_Rivers). continue to develop innovative approaches that are catered Many of our staff are now on furlough leave, a difficult to our new reality. I look forward to speaking to all of you decision made easier by the generous way in which Oxford about this new initiative. Laura van Broekhoven, Director Photo © PRM Dollshouse view of the museum Museum News

s a result of the current pandemic, we have had to need to develop digital material for different audiences so, pause specific projects, including the large move of behind the scenes, and as a start, we are integrating all our MuseumA objects (which thankfully is now picking up again), databases so that they will become easily searchable from and our work with forced migrants through Multaka. We across the world. have also had to postpone the opening of our exhibition We are making good progress in developing our new co-curated with LGBTQ+ communities through ‘Beyond plan for developing the Museum’s audiences. Given that the Binary’, and the Clothworkers’ funded ‘What’s in our audiences are at the core of what we do, we are hoping Drawers’ project which has already transformed 56 drawers that it will cater to all of them in innovative ways with in the main galleries. Other projects such as ‘Labelling a focus on co-creation, co-production, inclusivity and Matters’ and our work with school refusers through ‘Kick self-determination. We are adapting and planning new Arts’ are also affected. Scheduled exhibitions have been programmes that will allow visitors to think differently and postponed, and school bookings and room hires cancelled consider stories from different philosophical viewpoints. or postponed. This will have a significant impact on the We look forward to implementing our new ideas when the Museum and its finances. Museum reopens. Being away from the Museum has impacted on us in many Karrine Sanders, ways and is teaching us important lessons as to what we Head of Administration, Planning and Finance do next as a museum and how we improve our ways of delivering learning, exhibitions and tours. We particularly

Spring / Summer 2020 3 Traces of the Past/Losing Venus Exhibitions

Traces of the Past Losing Venus his year is the 25th anniversary of the Tutsi Genocide The ‘Losing Venus’ exhibition is very different: it consists in Rwanda, which claimed more than one million lives. of a series of installations that takes as its theme the effect T‘Traces of the Past’ is an exhibition that focuses on objects of the British Empire on LGBTQ people. Matt Smith, the that still give meaning to survivors who are now living in artist and ceramicist who works with museum collections the UK. These objects, examples of which are shown, are and produced this exhibition, writes: “With the 250th their memories, evoking people who were slaughtered and anniversary of Cook’s voyage to Australia, we have an a way of life that was lost. On the one hand, they recall a opportunity to review the relationship between the northern time of laughter and happiness, on the other, the dreadful and southern hemisphere and question long-held views of events of a genocide and the consequent loss of people progress and enlightenment, especially where they impact and their way of life. Immediacy is added to the exhibition on the ways in which people are allowed to live and love.” through recordings of the From 1860 onwards, words of these survivors. the British Empire As they say: “we survived criminalized male-to- for a reason” and “we male sexual relations, survived to talk”. imposing lengthy Carita Umulisa says prison sentences. that the milk container The legacy of these pictured belonged to her legal codes lives on murdered father, Augustin in some 38 countries Ndayambaje, a farmer that were once subject who loved his cows. to British colonial rule. Pearce William Angelique Ndamukunda ‘Losing Venus’ is an Photo: © PRM owns the drum ‘Ingoma’ exhibition that uses Photo: © A Rwandan milk container An earthernware plate made by Matt Smith and recalls that it “reminds this history to consider recreating the memory of Cook’s celebratory dinner me of my three best friends the meaning of such at secondary school that discrimination today, I lost. They introduced doing so through the me to a traditional dance lens of sexual identity class. I liked dancing and gender fluidity. The to traditional songs, fact that it is displayed but didn’t know how to in a British cultural dance. Ingoma reminds centre, not only gives me that they teased and it extra resonance, told me to just follow the but also reflects the drum rhythm.” intention of the Pitt The Mancala board Rivers Museum to be

game ‘Igisoro’, belongs a space in which many Pearce William to Marie Chantal histories are told, even Photo: © PRM Uwamahoro who says the difficult ones. A Rwandan drum (Ingoma) Photo: © that “Igisoro reminds me This striking and An Iranian doll made of linen and sacking of my childhood with my family. Growing up in a family of thoughtful exhibition eight children, we used to gather outside in the compound is spread across the ground floor and includes screen and play board games. Igisoro brings some memories of prints and objects from the Museum that reflect gender watching my father and mother playing games with my fluidity, together with striking objects made by Matt. Two siblings and having some laughter. The game reminds me of are shown here. The first directly follows the Empire theme what I once had and lost, my brothers, sisters and a father.” and is a plate from his recreation of a lost dinner service commissioned by Cook on his return home: it visually explores the distortions that occur when non-European discoveries are translated into European forms. The second points to the universality of oppression and is a striking symbol of a repressed black woman entitled “The Dolls: Iran”. These are both thoughtful and interesting exhibitions about important topics – do not miss them when the PRM reopens in September. Jonathan Bard, Friend All Photos: © PRM The wooden, cupped board (Igisoro) for the Mancala board game

4 Spring / Summer 2020 Silesian Gunmaking: The Tschinke

eschen (Polish ‘Cieszyn’) is one of the oldest towns a separate spanner, thereby compressing the spring. On in Silesia, situated on the river Olza, a tributary of the pulling the trigger, the wheel rotates rapidly and sparks TOder. In the sixteenth century a gunmaking industry was are produced by abrasion against a piece of iron pyrites, established there, the earliest known maker being one clamped in the jaws of the so-called ‘dog’. Tschinke locks Jerzyk who is recorded in the years 1526-31. By around are constructionally archaic, the external mainspring and 1560-70 the Teschen gunmakers had started to produce other details relating them to some of the earliest surviving sporting rifles intended for the shooting of sitting birds and wheellocks, in particular two guns in the Landeszeughaus in 1590 they formed a separate guild, together with the in Graz (RG.2 and 3), one of which (RG.2) is dated 1527 locksmiths, watchmakers and spurmakers. The golden age on the barrel. of Teschen gunmaking was the seventeenth century, the The distinctive hind’s foot stock was designed to be held most characteristic weapon being the slender, small-calibre against the cheek when the rifle was fired. The present wheellock birding rifle known as a ‘Tschinke’ or ‘Teschinke’. example is decorated with inlays of engraved bone: others The example in the Pitt Rivers Museum (1884.27.21) is have geometrical designs in stained bone and brass, typical of its kind and is 45½ inches long with the small suggesting a place of origin other than Silesia - perhaps calibre of 0.35 inch; it is rifled with six grooves. A pair of Hungary, or even Russia. The classic form of Tschinke comparable rifles in the Livrustkammaren in Stockholm stock had emerged by the early seventeenth century, as (LRK.5326 and 5327) are dated 1647 and the Pitt Rivers testified to by an unusual two-shot weapon dated 1610 in specimen is of about the same date. The Tschinke is the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (D.76). An example characterised by three features: a rifled octagonal barrel of dated 1676 in the Mestské Múzeum in Bratislava (Z-205) small bore; a wheellock firing mechanism with an external is one of the latest. mainspring, and a so-called ‘hind’s foot’ stock. The earliest recorded use of the word ‘Tschinke’ Rifling involves cutting a number of spiral grooves in (as the plural ‘Teschinken’) is in ‘Schlesiens kuriösen the bore of the barrel, so as to impart to the lead bullet a Denkwürdigkeiten’ (‘Silesia’s Curious Memorabilia’), spinning motion in flight and hence gyroscopic stability and published in Frankfurt in 1609. It is generally assumed greater accuracy. It was probably a German invention of to be derived from the name of the principal centre of the first half of the sixteenth century: the earliest surviving manufacture, thus: Teschen -> Teschinke -> Tschinke. dated example is a barrel of 1542, incorporated into a However, other types of firearm, including pistols, were later wheellock rifle preserved in the Tøjhusmuseet in also made in Teschen and these are never referred to Copenhagen (B.277). as Tschinkes, the term being reserved for the distinctive The Tschinke lock is recognisable by its prominent wheellock rifles. An alternative possibility is a derivation external V-shaped mainspring situated behind the wheel, from the Polish word ‘cienki’ (pronounced ‘tshenki’), very to which it is connected by a chain of three links. To fire appropriately meaning slender. Interestingly, the current the weapon, the wheel is wound up by turning it clockwise German word ‘Tesching’ retains the meaning of a light, through three-quarters to seven-eighths of a turn using small-calibre rifle. Michael Spencer, Friend Photo © Michael Spencer

Tschinke; Silesian, ca. 1645-50.

Spring / Summer 2020 5 Oxford Zoo

ne day in early October 2018, in the winter and daily through the drivers approaching Kidlington, summer. Occasionally dances and Onorth of Oxford, were greeted by firework displays were held at the the view of a huge elephant striding old farmhouse. from between the trees and across The enterprise was not the the grassy roundabout, a monkey commercial success that Gray may gambolling at its feet, and a stork have envisioned. Neither he nor his perched on its back. Not a real staff had any specialist knowledge: elephant of course – this was a the technical and logistical aspects beautiful and dramatic metal mesh of animal management and of Dorothy Walker Dorothy

© sculpture created by the artist Tony running the zoo proved extremely Davies, commissioned by Cherwell challenging. In 1932, he sold the Photo: District Council as a local history Elephant Sculpture business to Captain Frank Cooper, initiative commemorating the the owner of the marmalade factory short existence of the Gosford Hill in Oxford, who appears to have had and Oxford Zoological Gardens the means to run it more as a hobby between 1931 and 1936. The old zoo than for profit. location in Kidlington is now home to Kidlington historian John Amor’s Thames Valley Police HQ. book, ‘Gosford Hill and Oxford Zoo’, What was the story of the Oxford relates local memories of the zoo, Zoo? During the severe global including accounts of tanks of water Oxfordshire History Centre Oxfordshire economic depression of the being transported daily from the © early 1930s, what prompted the canal by Morris van to supply the

Photo: transformation of the ancient Gosford animal pools, of escaped wolves, Hill Farm into a wildly ambitious zoo British Cattle of the narrowly escaped mauling venture displaying hundreds of exotic of a young tiger keeper, and, sadly, animals and birds? The story is a curious of the death, due to a foot infection, one and a reminder of how much attitudes of Rosie the elephant, purchased by to zoos and their role changed during the public subscription. Attendance figures twentieth century. dwindled, and in 1936, the zoo closed. The entrepreneur behind the project Most of the animals were moved to was Frank Gray, the new proprietor of Dudley Zoo, which still operates today. Gosford Hill farm. An unconventional and In its amateur commercialism, the colourful former Liberal MP for Oxford, Oxford Zoo story seems far removed Gray had boundless, restless energy from modern sensitivities about the and a keen eye for publicity. He had morality of keeping wild animals captive tried his hand in many fields, including for show. Thinking has changed in journalism, the restaurant and laundry the last few decades. In the 1970s, trades, farming, the law, a bus company, the notion of zoos as benign places of

Oxfordshire History Centre Oxfordshire building and contracting, and setting up public entertainment began to be widely

Photo: Fenby in his book ‘The Other Oxford’ completely unregulated until 1981, when describes how, shortly after Gray bought the Zoo Licensing Act was passed. In his farm, he decided that its position the 1990s, the actors Virginia McKenna beside the northern entrance road to and Bill Travers started the powerful Oxford would be the ideal location for campaigning lobby, Zoo Check. a striking city amenity. In his view, a There is increasingly vocal debate Zoological Garden was just what Oxford about the ethics of keeping animals needed. in captivity in an urban setting (like Scores of cages, pools and enclosures Regent’s Park, for example, the home were constructed in record time and his of London Zoo). Although zoos such zoo opened to the public in 1931, filled as London’s operate under the banners

Oxfordshire History Centre Oxfordshire with hundreds of wild animals and birds, of conservation and education, there is © as well as some British farm animals. An continuing discussion about the extent

Photo: elephant, lions, a rhino, a tiger, wolves and to which their operations really support a bear arrived soon afterwards. Visitors Tigress these causes. could buy a combined ticket for entrance and a ride on the Perhaps in the future, Kidlington’s statue will, like “open-topped” bus which brought them to the zoo from monuments everywhere, be the subject of a re-evaluation. the centre of Oxford. The attraction was open at weekends Dorothy Walker, Friend

6 Spring / Summer 2020 Westminster College - a pioneer in teacher training

estminster College was one the city was an appropriate choice of the first teacher training therefore for a new Methodist Wcolleges opened in England. It teacher training college. A site on was established in London by the Harcourt Hill was chosen. Only Methodist Church in 1851. In 1959 15 minutes from the city centre, it moved to Harcourt Hill to the it appeared ideal, with a view west of Oxford, and, in September of the dreaming spires and an 2019, having been part of Oxford Oxford address. Although initially Brookes University since 2000, opposed by the local authorities, the College celebrated its 60th an agreement was eventually anniversary. The celebrations reached and 38 acres of land were focused on Westminster’s move purchased in March 1955. The from the capital to a hilltop on the architects Seely and Paget created edge of Oxford. a campus combining “Oxford quad When it opened in 1851 in an with a New England look”. There impoverished part of Westminster, were subject specific classrooms the College initially trained both and the Principal commented men and women. Students that he was glad that they hadn’t taught children who could not Harcourt Hill Campus, Summer 2019 designed “a whitewashed, afford an education. It geometric sculpture built was rapidly oversubscribed from concrete”. and Southlands College, An agreement was Battersea was founded in reached with Oxford 1872 to accept women, University that the Oxford whilst Westminster Institute of Education would continued to train men. validate Westminster’s Students were offered awards. After some initial a pioneering 4-year difficulties, the relationship course, a precursor to between the University the modern scheme of an and the College developed undergraduate degree with into a cordial one. Women a PGCE. From 1930, the were again admitted and course was validated by the an expansion of courses University of London. followed. The College roll In the early years of grew to over 400 students, the twentieth century, Westminster Training College, London, circa 1925 four times the number Westminster’s neo-Gothic anticipated at its founding buildings were becoming in 1851. outdated. Attempts were In 2000, Westminster made to relocate - first College merged with Oxford Leicester was considered Brookes University, the and later Kent. However, Harcourt Hill Campus is the plans were halted by now home to Brookes’ the outbreak of war in 1939. Schools of Education, Westminster’s buildings History, Philosophy and were badly damaged Culture. However, the during the conflict but after ‘Westminster identity’ has the war, yearning for a not been lost: the halls sense of normality, the of residence are named College Trustees elected after prominent Methodists, to repair them rather than portraits of former College move. However, by 1951, Official opening by Sir David Eccles, Minister for Education, 21 May 1960 Principals hang in the the year of its centenary, Refectory, and the College it was clear that the College was not suitable for modern archives are held by the Oxford Centre for Methodism and education. Following a damning inspection in 1953, the Church History. The legacy of Westminster College, and its Friend of PRM

Westminster Education Committee started searching for important contribution to the training of teachers, remains © a new location and settled, this time, on Britain’s oldest apparent. university city: Oxford. Thomas Dobson, postgrad student studying the history

John and Charles Wesley had both studied at Oxford – of a Higher Education College in Oxford All Photos:

Spring / Summer 2020 7 The Bark Paintings of Arnhem Land

1. Art Origins and Cultural Misunderstandings Homo sapiens from Africa to Europe some 45,000 years ago coincided with rapid evolutionary change in the brain and hence in cognition - the so-called “Human Revolution”. This theory was Australian National University

© unchallenged until 20 years ago, when Photo: a new assessment of Map of Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia African archaeology he first Australians were the descendants of groups was published³. But who emigrated from Africa some 65,000 years ago, it was illogical in the Tarriving in northern Australia by sea around 50,000 years first place - the first ago. European settlement started in the south in 1788 and human occupants of only reached Arnhem Land in the late 19th century. The Australia, ancestors © PRM of today’s artists, Europeans regarded Australia as a “land without art”; the Photo: creations we now recognise as art were only of interest to had clearly carried Bark painting by an artist known as Kneepad from Groote anthropologists. their ability to create Eylandt. PRM 1967.38.1 The first painting illustrated here comes from Yirrkala, art with them. The in the extreme north east of Arnhem Land, home of oldest rock art in Arnhem Land has been dated to 50,000 the Yolngu people. years ago⁴, considerably before the European cave art of Geometric patterns Chauvet, (30-32,000) and Lascaux (17,000). covering the entire The minds of Europeans were also closed to recognising surface of the bark indigenous Australian art as art because they failed to realise are common in East that it was deeply embedded in the whole culture, and had Arnhem Land. This a spiritual significance that was fundamental to community relatively recent life. In fact, spiritual meanings and creation stories are not example is based on only deeply imbued in the paintings, but infuse the very act a traditional design, of their creation. They are also expressed in ceremonies, and tells a traditional which involve singing, dancing and body-painting with story: the coming of clan patterns. The Yolngu leader Galarrwuy Yunupingu AM fire, carried across explains the fundamental integration of all these aspects the country by of the culture⁵: ancestral beings in “It is through the ceremonies that our lives are created. the form of quails or These ceremonies record and pass on the laws that crocodiles¹. give us ownership of the land and of the seas, and the Many paintings rules by which we live. Our ceremonial grounds are from Groote Eylandt our universities, where we gain the knowledge that we illustrate creation need. We travel the song cycles that guide the life and stories: the one the essence of the clans – keeping all in balance, giving illustrated shows a our people their meaning. It is the only cycle of events woman wandering that can ever give a Yolngu person the full energy that © PRM with a star (bottom); he or she requires for life. Without this learning, Yolngu can achieve nothing; they are nobody.” Photo: they find the morning Bark painting by Yolngu painter Gurruwul PRM 1994.1.3 star, who leads them By the mid-20th century, the attitudes of European to the Earth (top Australians were beginning to change. The major panel), brings daylight and creates the sun, man and a spear breakthrough came in 1957 when two anthropologists, for hunting². Understanding the meaning of such paintings Ronald and Catherine Berndt, curated an exhibition of requires cultural knowledge or local explanation, but the bark paintings in Sydney: ‘The Art of Arnhem Land’. For early Europeans did not understand the local languages the first time, individual artists were named, and identified and regarded the indigenous people as savages. with personal styles. Until twenty years ago, the established theory of the origin of human artistic creativity was that the emigration of

8 Spring / Summer 2020 2. Techniques and symbolism up the Bennett-Campbell non-profit Trust in 1962 to sell and ark painting is created throughout Australia, but is promote indigenous art. The label on the back states that particularly identified with Arnhem Land, in which it was painted by Neville Darandara Naroldol of Gumadeer Bdefined territories were bequeathed to each clan by River, a member of the Gunwingga (Kinwinjku) people of their spirit ancestors. Although there are many different Gunbalanya (Oenpelli), in the far west of Arnhem Land. languages, the same stories, with local variations of detail Unusually, it has no and of the names of ancestral beings, are widespread. background wash. The These stories are ‘djang’ (Kunwinjku) or ‘wangarr’ (Yolngu), bodies of both mother the spiritual foundation of all aspects of the culture. The and Joey are divided European term ‘Dreaming’ does not fully encapsulate it⁵. into compartments The process of making a bark painting begins with a filled by simple cross- hollow cylinder of bark being cut and removed from a ‘yárlk’ hatching. This is an (stringybark gum tree) in the wet season, when the sap is archetypal image that rising. The bark sheet is trimmed to the desired shape then also appears on the dried over a fire: it is flattened by placing heavy weights on walls or roof of rock it as it cools. Traditionally, paints are derived from locally shelters: it has the sourced natural pigments: reds, purples, pinks and yellows didactic purpose of come from ochres (iron oxide), black mainly from charcoal illustrating the method and white from pipeclay. The colours are themselves of butchering². Some regarded as having spiritual significance. They are bound versions show a man with substances such as egg yolk, wax or orchid plant sap, throwing a spear to and applied to the bark by the hands or with a variety of kill the animal: he is tools including feathers and brushes made from human ‘Mimih’, the spirit who hair; the tip of a blade of sedge grass is useful for making taught the Kunwinjku fine cross-hatching lines, ‘rarrk’. Today, acrylic paints, wood people the art of glue and modern brushes may be used. © PRM painting. The painting of In West Arnhem Land, bark paintings frequently depict Photo: animals against a plain background wash, which until the Bark painting of Yingarna, the Rainbow serpent, by ‘Yingarna’, a treasure of 1970s was commonly red ochre. The animals are often those Bilinyara Nabegeyo the Pitt Rivers Museum, (c. 1920-c.1991). PRM 1982.12.1 is by Bilinyara Nabegeyo (c.1920-c.1991), one of the most revered artists of West Arnhem Land¹. ‘Yingarna’ is a powerful snake-like creator spirit who lives either in water or in the sky: its tongue forks to make lightning and its body arches to form a rainbow. Accounts of its relation to water vary according to the nature of the climate in different parts of the continent. It once travelled the land, creating the hills and valleys, swallowing people and regurgitating them later to form features of the landscape. Swallowing and regurgitation is a fundamental cultural

© GMK theme: it is a metaphor for the transition from one metaphysical state to another. This is ‘djang’, Photo: “an ongoing, eternal, life-giving transformative power Bark painting by Neville Darandara Naroldol that accounts for every aspect of existence. It also refers to the creation ancestor, the country where spirit resides, hunted for food, including kangaroo, emu and barramundi and to ceremonial designs and songs that represent that (Asian sea bass). Just as ritual ceremonies transform the being. It is what powers our art”⁵ initiates into spiritual beings, the act of painting is a spiritual act that transforms the subject. The artist John Mawurndjul, 1. Howard Morphy, PRM collections database a master of the rarrk technique, explained: “We don’t paint 2. Howard Morphy (1988) In: ‘Australia in Oxford’ © Pitt the actual body, but its power. We represent its power with Rivers Museum, P74. cross-hatching, we don’t paint its human form, no. We only 3. McBrearty, S and Brooks, paint the spirit, that’s all”³. Particular designs, especially rarrk ‘A (2000) Journal of Human Evolution’ 39, pp453-463. patterns, designate clan identity. 4. Wally Caruana (2012) ‘Aboriginal Art’. I acquired the kangaroo bark painting shown here at Thames and Hudson, 3rd edition. a Friends’ Christmas party silent auction in 2016; it was 5. empoweredcommunities.au.org donated by Diana Naumann, who bought it in Darwin when 6. maningrida.com she was backpacking in 1979. It was originally collected by Dorothy Bennett, an advocate for indigenous artists who set Gillian Morriss-Kay, Chair of the Friends

Spring / Summer 2020 9 Ainu of Japan

n February 1910, the Japanese Commission issued stores viewing their Ainu materials, and learnt from Kimio passports to ten Ainu people, including one who was not Miyatake the names of the ten individuals who took part in Iyet two years old. This was to enable representatives of the London exhibition. this minority Japanese cultural group to come to London to Knowing these names gave my visit to Hokkaido new be part of an “Ainu village” at the Japan-British exhibition meaning. I had previously visited the Nibutani Ainu Culture in Shepherd’s Bush, London. The aim of the exhibition Museum and the Urespa Ainu Crafts Workshop in Biratori, was to strengthen the Anglo-Japanese Alliance and to the southern Hokkaido town of origin of the ten Ainu enhance Japan’s credentials as a modern empire. The exhibition visitors. I discovered that even their names were Ainu representatives were not named – their role was to be linked to place: seven of them, not necessarily related, on view to bring the Ainu village to life. As the exhibition had the surname ‘Kaizawa’, which means ‘shell river’. The approached its end, the displayed objects were sold. On Japanese district officers who registered the Ainu took 26th October 1910, Henry Balfour bought 50 Ainu objects words from the local environment to name them: Nibutani for the Pitt Rivers Museum, where they are still on view sits along the Saru river, known for its abundance of mussel today, without any explanation of their cultural origins. shells. This discovery instantly brought the 50 Balfour In its review of the exhibition, the Illustrated London objects to life for me, connecting them to named individuals News wrote: “The Hairy Ainus are a remnant of the original and to a place: they were no longer simply articles of an and conquered inhabitants of Japan and are now almost oppressive colonial mind-set, but also of hope. ‘Ainu’ extinct.” In fact, the Ainu were not dying out, but in 1910 means ‘human’; they are a distinct people with no writing they were not legally recognised. It was not until April 2019 until recently, so their cultural inheritance is transmitted that they were formally accepted as a distinct Japanese orally through their own language, songs, dances and people, and on July 12th, 2020 a National Ainu Museum musical instruments. Their attachment to, and respect for, was opened on the banks of Lake Poroto, Shiraoi, in nature is deeply spiritual. southern Hokkaido. With the aim of bringing to the PRM’s The future of the 50 PRM Ainu objects is linked to today’s Ainu objects the respect and recognition they deserve, Nibutani artists, whose work speaks to the complex history I visited Hokkaido after attending the 2019 International of the Ainu and their contemporary resurgence. I hope that Council of Museums (ICOM) conference in Kyoto, with the through co-curation and the commissioning of new works financial support of the Friends of the Pitt Rivers Museum we are able to give those objects the stories they deserve, and the Art Fund. In the remote northern town of Abashiri I and to remember those ten individuals. visited the Hokkaido Museum of Northern Peoples, and was Marenka Thompson-Odlum, Research Associate given a tour by two curators. I spent hours in the museum’s Photo © PRM Group portrait of four seated Ainu men, four women and two children, pictured at the Japan-British Exhibition of 1910, identified by Kimio Miyatake as (R to L): Kaizawa Shiraheno, Kaizawa Kanakatoku, Monbetsu Shinotsutekan, Kaizawa Kenji, Monbetsu Nukatsutoke, Kaizawa Anretoku, Kaizawa Ratarashino, Kaizawa Sue, Kaizawa Zensuke and Kaizawa Chukicki.

Chinese Child’s Tiger Hat

or years I have been intrigued by the tiger as a motif. It was traditional for a baby boy’s maternal grandmother, Throughout the world, including countries where it has and perhaps other relatives and friends, to give him an Fnever lived, it is revered for its powers of protection, its embroidered hat when he was a month old. It would be ferocity, and its strength. Everyone is fascinated by the worn until the age of five on special occasions such as tiger – as illustrated in the West by Rousseau’s ‘Tiger in a birthdays and the Lunar New Year. In the days before an Tropical Storm’, Blake’s “Tyger tyger burning bright”, Judith understanding of modern medicine, when infant mortality Kerr’s “The Tiger Who Came to Tea”, Esso’s slogan “Put a rates were high, it was believed that the tiger would frighten tiger in your tank”, and in the East by the tiger rugs of Tibet, away any demon-spirits that might cause harm to the defenceless child.

Chinese child’s tiger hat detail.On the forehead is the Chinese character wang , meaning ‘king’. The ‘hoods’ of the eyes are drawn with couched thread.

A government ‘jianding’ (export approval) seal is attached. Chinese child’s tiger hat, probably early 20th century, known as a ‘wind hat’ as the side and back flaps keep out the wind. The back flap is decorated with a butterfly for happiness and the I had been hoping that the writing on its reverse might government jianding export approval seal is hanging down on the right. have given useful information about the hat’s provenance, but it merely translates as ‘child’s embroidered hat’. Web Tipu’s mechanical tiger, Hokusai’s ‘Tiger in a Snow Storm’, searches for similar hats indicate that it is probably from and that cure-all Tiger Balm. Most of my Asian textiles were Shanxi Province. In PRM’s collection there are three tiger given to the Pitt Rivers Museum some time ago, but I kept a hats: two collected by me - not on display, 2003.69.76 and few favourites. One such piece is a Chinese child’s tiger hat, 2003.69.77, and one with tiger-like ears on display in the probably early 20th century, bought in the mid-1980s from Body Arts section: 1989.16.7 https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/ what was known as ‘The Old Theatre Shop’ in Beijing. It is collections-online. made of wonderfully bright orange silk fabric with the bold Other hand-crafted tiger items such as children’s shoes black stripes embroidered in chain stitch. On the forehead were also common. I have several little stuffed tiger toys is the Chinese character ‘wang’ , meaning ‘king’. purchased from folk craft shops in Hong Kong in the 1980s, This style of headgear is known as a ‘wind hat’ as the and also a pair of slightly kitsch modern tiger mittens. side and back flaps keep out the wind. The back flap is In addition to the loss of habitat, sadly the power of the decorated with a butterfly for happiness. Some appliqué tiger is one reason for its decline in numbers as the body parts appear to have been glued on. The whole hat is lined parts are used in folk medicine. in dark blue silk. I love its upright ears and tail, its bulging Felicity Wood, Friend eyes with ‘hoods’ drawn with couched thread, its white teeth, minimal whiskers, and neat little feet. The essence of tiger!

This article is an edited ISSN 1757-0670 ASIAN TEXTILES version of one that JOURNAL OF THE OXFORD ASIAN TEXTILE GROUP NUMBER 76 Summer 2020 first appeared in Asian Textiles Number 76 (Summer 2020), the journal of the Asian Textile Group. I am grateful to the editor,

Gavin Strachan, for permission.

Left to right Tiger toy 8 cm long, tiger toy 9.5 cm long, and tiger mitten 18 cm long

Spring / Summer 2020 11 Friends of The Pitt Rivers Museum Spring / Summer 2020

Caption INFORMATION SHEET The Friends’ Magazine is published three times a year

INFORMATION MUSEUM DIARY DATES FRIENDS’ DIARY DATES Friends The PRM is currently closed to the Unfortunately all FPRM events are now prm.ox.ac.uk/friends public. We invite you to enjoy the cancelled for the foreseeable future. General Information: Gillian Morriss-Kay museum and collections online with This is due to the COVID-19 pandemic [email protected] a virtual tour by going to and the risks entailed. https://tinyurl.com/prm-tour. Future talks will be held on Zoom. Programme: Juliet Eccles [email protected] The museum intends to open mid Information to access these talks to Membership: 01367 242433 September. To ensure safety of follow via chimpmail. An easy way to [email protected] visitors and staff entry will be watch and enjoy the speakers lined up Annual Subscription: £30 (Joint: £40); ticketed and a reduced capacity to from the comfort of your home. Family (two adults and all their children meet the 2 metre rule. Vistors will under 18 living at the same address): £40; be asked to wear masks and directed Talk: The world Over 65: £20 (Joint: £30); Student: £15 (18-25, in a box: to hand gel points in the museum. in full time education). Cabinets of Life Membership: (for 65+): £200. While it will be a little different the Curiosity Subscription year from 1 May. staff at the museum are working Wednesday 21 First subscription paid after 1 January valid to ensure you have a pleasant October, 18.30 to 30 April of following year. experience. Nandini Das Cabinet of Curiosty President of Friends of Pitt Rivers: Professor of Modern Professor Chris Gosden English Literature & Culture. Exeter College, Patrons of Friends of Pitt Rivers: Exhibitions and case displays University of Oxford, will talk on how Alexander Armstrong, Sir David Britain first learnt to collect. Attenborough, Danby Bloch, Professor Sir Located throughout the galleries Barry Cunliffe, Dame Penelope Lively, Layla Losing Venus: Talk: The Coconut: Moran, Sir Michael Palin, Sir Philip Pullman. Installations by How the shy fruit artist Matt Smith shaped our world. Museum highlights the Wednesday 18 Pitt Rivers Museum, South Parks Road, colonial impact on November, 18.30 Oxford OX1 3PP LGBTQ+ lives across Robin Lawrence is an

01865 270927 the British Empire. Oxford based writer Photo: © Reuters www.prm.ox.ac.uk Work by Matt Smith and photographer of 35 years and will talk Email: [email protected] Photo: © PRM about his book and the social history of the Open: Tuesday-Sunday 10.00-16.30 coconut during the past 500 years. Monday 12.00-16.30 Archive Case Admission FREE. Memoirs in my Talk: Labelling Highlight tours suitcase: Matters Project Wednesdays 14.30 and 15.15 Display relating to the Wednesday Volunteer-led introduction to the Museum. lives and experience 18.30 (Date to be Approximately 20 minutes. of Turkish migrant announced) No booking required. workers in Western Marenka Thompson- After Hours Europe in the 1960s

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