12 The Treaty with Dingane (4 or 6 February 1838) A1a/A3 B1a/B2 C1/C2 D N 12 Treaty 26 27 1 25 2 South wall (panel 15/31) 24 3 h. 2.3 × w. 2.14 m (overlap with panels 14 and 16) 4 23 Large piece of top right corner broken off diagonally (from centre top to upper left arm of boy behind Retief) 22 5 Sculptor of the clay maquette: Frikkie Kruger 21 Stages of production 6 A1 a. W.H. Coetzer, pencil drawing, same image as A1b but reversed 20 and discarded, h. 13.4 × w. 15.4 cm (April–June 1937) 7 b. W.H. Coetzer, pencil drawing, h. 13.4 × 15.3 (April–June 1937) 19 A2 Reproduction of A1b (June 1937) 8 18 A3 Coetzer, revised pencil drawing A1b, h. 13.4 × w. 15.3 cm 17 9 (after September 1937) 16 10 Annotations: ‘nog nie klaar nie’ (not yet finished) / ‘Owen moet nie daar 15 14 13 12 11 wees nie en tafel moet verander word in blok hout’ (Owen must not be there and the table must be altered into block of wood.) / ‘… Owen weg’ 0 5 10 m (… delete Owen) / ‘Traktaat met Dingaan’ (Treaty with Dingane) A4 W.H. Coetzer, Die Dingaan-Retief Traktaat (The Dingane-Retief Treaty); monochrome oil on board, h. 27.3 × w. 31 cm (late 1937–38?) B1 a. One-third-scale clay maquette, not extant but photographed (1942–43) b. One-third-scale clay maquette, not extant but replicated in B2 (1942–43) B2 One-third-scale plaster maquette, h. 77.5 × w. 76.7 × d. 8.5 cm (1942–43) C1 Full-scale wooden armature for C2, not extant but photographed (1943–45) C2 Full-scale clay relief, not extant but photographed; replicated in C3 (1943–45) C3 Full-scale plaster relief (1943–45), not extant but illustrated (Die Vaderland, 26.2.1945); copied in D (1948–49) D Marble as installed in the Monument (1949) Early records SVK minutes (4.9.1937) ― item 4j (see below, ‘Development of the design’) Voorstelle (5.12.1935?) ― item 10 ‘Ondertekening Dingaan-traktaat. Suggestie: soos voorgestel in “Voortrekker- rolprent’’’379 (Signing of Dingane treaty. Suggestion: as shown in Voortrekker film) Panele (c. Dec. 1934–36) ― item 6 ‘Ondertekening v. traktaat’ (Signing of treaty) Wenke (c. 1934–36) ― item II. Dr. L. Steenkamp, mnre. A.J. du Plessis en M. Basson, A. ‘MAATSKAPLIK’ (SOCIAL), 3. ‘Verhouding met ander volksgroepe’ (Attitude to other ethnic groups), d. ‘Dingaan’ (Dingane), v. ‘Voltrekking van verdrag’ (Execution of contract) Moerdyk Layout (5.10.1936–15.1.1937) ― scene 10 on panel 15 ‘Traktaat’ (Treaty) Jansen Memorandum (19.1.1937) ― 7.10 ‘Signing of the Treaty with Dingaan’ 379 In the Jansen files copy of ‘Voorstelle’ (ARCA PV94 1/75/1/7) the reference to the Voortrekker film is scored out. Open Access. © 2020 Elizabeth Rankin and Rolf Michael Schneider, published by De Gruyter and African Minds. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110668797-017 206 12 Treaty Figure 12.1: D. Treaty. 1949. Marble, 2.3 × 2.14 m (courtesy of VTM; photo Russell Scott) Figure 12.2: Portrait of Dingane in Treaty. Marble, detail of fig. 12.1 (photo Russell Scott) Description 207 Description In the centre of Treaty (fig. 12.1) two quite different men sit facing each other: the Zulu king Dingane in full regalia),380 and across the table the Voortrekker governor Piet Retief in trekker clothing. The corpulent king, his beard and moustache short-trimmed, is the only person who sits on a proper chair. He has the royal head ring (‘isicoco’) with a large central attachment in the form of a ball deli- cately formed of lourie feathers (‘isiqova’ or ‘ilihuna’) and a single crane feather at the back; earplugs (‘iziqhaza’)381 and a large stylised necklace, perhaps meant to depict curved lion or leopard claws (fig 12.2).382 He wears a purpose-cut skin covering his back and the midline of the chest (‘amambata’), more clearly visible for the Zulu in frontal view on the king’s left, and bandoliers in the form of a double-cord over his shoulder like a sash.383 There is further a knee-length back or rear apron made of skin (‘ibheshu’),384 of which the forked flap protrudes under the king’s thigh; the ‘izinjobo’ – i.e. the tails of genets (‘ilidlaka’) dangling between the ‘ibheshu’ and the ‘isinene’ (loin cover);385 the tuft of cow tails on a band around the upper arms and below the knees (‘amashoba’);386 and above each ankle a pair of beadwork rings (‘amadavathi’). It is pertinent to the general goal of historical accuracy that so much detail was lavished on Dingane’s attire. In the case of the Voortrekkers, the form of dress was already established in earlier panels. The Boer leader, his full beard coiffured, is distinguished, however, with a longer jacket than the customary trekker attire, and a top hat, suggesting the formal- ity of the occasion, and he has a satchel over his shoulder, a key element in the narrative. It is notable that he and his party do not remove their hats in the king’s presence. Dingane uses a quill to mark a document on the table, but Retief is in control of the transaction, his pointing index finger directing where to sign. Two groups of people, densely arranged and cer- emonially staged, frame their leaders in a semicircle. Behind Dingane, his advisors and confidants kneel or crouch, and next to Retief stands a group of trekkers. While the Zulu outnumber the Boers, the Boers appear dominant because they are upright. The seniority of five Zulu near the king is indicated by their head rings, earplugs and chest coverings, while the royal cuspidor (‘inceku’), Tununu ka Nonjiya, kneels with cupped hands at his side. The ‘isinene’ of his apron falls over the lower frame, as do the skins covering the tree trunk that acts as Retief’s seat, details that add to the tangible presence of the scene. The trekkers are shown in their traditional suits and wide-brimmed hats; the men in the front row have full beards, except for one with neither beard nor hat, who represents the English interpreter Thomas Halstead (1811–38).387 Only on the Boer side are there children, two boys who frame their leader like small guards, the one behind Retief holding a coiled riempie-rope. Beyond the heads of the Zulu a kraal is seen from a high vantage point that shows a section of Dingane’s extensive capital, uMgungundlovu.388 The huts are depicted as perfect hemispheres, enclosed by tall palisades, with strong horizontal supports, in a rectilinear layout with a central entrance. The larger scale and different layout from the view in Murder of Retief are presumably intended to show that the signing takes place at the king’s residence, while several lines of hills on the horizon indicate its locale. 380 For (high-ranking) Zulu clothing, see Krige 1981, 370–382, esp. 374–375. We are indebted to Sandra Klopper for her guidance on Dingane and his regalia. 381 See Frank Jolles, ‘Zulu earplugs’, in Zulu treasures 1996, 171–181. 382 For a royal lion claw necklace, see Zulu treasures 1996, 65 no. K19. 383 Bandoliers were, according to Jolly (2005, 88), ‘usually symbolically charged and associated with high ritual status or potency’. 384 For a man’s rear apron made of leopard skin, see Zulu treasures 1996, 216 no. A47. 385 See Zulu treasures 1996, 215 nos A42 (‘isinene’, man’s loin cover) and A42a (‘izinjobo’, loin hanging). 386 In Zulu treasures (1996, 215 no. A37) they are called ‘umklezo (imiklezo)’, meaning ‘cattle tailbrush shoulder ornament’. 387 DSAB 3, 1977, 367–368. 388 See Murder of Retief. 208 12 Treaty Figure 12.3: A1a. W.H. Coetzer. April–June 1937. Pencil, 13.4 × 15.4 cm. Figure 12.4: A2. W.H. Coetzer. Reproduction of the first Mirror version of A1b/A3 (photo courtesy of Museum Africa, sketch for Treaty. June 1937 (courtesy of ARCA no. 66/2194I) PV94 1/75/5/1; photo the authors) Figure 12.5: A3. W.H. Coetzer. ‘Traktaat met Dingaan’. After Figure 12.6: A4. W.H. Coetzer. Die Dingaan-Retief traktaat. Late 1937– September 1937. Pencil, 13.4 × 15.3 cm. Revised version of A1b 38? Monochrome oil on board, 27.3 × 31 cm (courtesy of DNMCH, (photo courtesy of Museum Africa, no. 66/2194J) OHG 897; photo the authors) Developing the design 209 Developing the design For this scene we have the unusual circumstance of two initial drawings, mirror images of each other. Presumably Coetzer was trialling which way the scene would read best in the preliminary drawings and then discarded the one showing Dingane on the right and Retief on the left (fig. 12.3). It is the reversed reproduction with Dingane on the left and Retief on the right (fig. 12.4), labelled ‘j’, which corresponds with no. 10 on Jansen’s 1937 Memorandum, which must have been shown to the committee, and it is the same as the pencil drawing on which Coetzer made annotations for corrections (fig. 12.5). At the Historiese Komitee meeting on 4 September 1937 the following alterations were required: Signing of contract. The inkwell was a little bottle with a rim around the neck that people carried on their belts; Dingaan writes on a block; he should look far more clumsy, that is to say, hold the pen almost straight-backwards; the skin shields should be held flat over his head; the ‘kaffer’ that holds out his hands for the spit should hold a hide shield; Dingaan’s head is shaved smooth with a ring around it.