No. SPRUTE2023-001
Maka children's whirring toy
East Cameroon forest (Haut-Nyong), German Kamerun · Central Africa
Play / practical
Source term: Schwirrholz, Kinderspielzeug
Schwirrholz: German, 'whirring wood', the bullroarer; no Maka name recorded.
Among the Maka of Cameroon’s eastern forest, the bullroarer was a plaything: a whirring toy for children. This one left Maka country in the years when German rule was reaching into the eastern forest in the collection of Freiherr von Stein zu Lausnitz, who also brought away Maka spears and powder horns, and it reached Stuttgart in 1907 labelled simply “whirring wood, children’s toy.”
Particulars
- Object
- A bullroarer; materials and dimensions not recorded.
- Function
- A children's toy.
Source
Sebastian-Manès Sprute, Umgekehrte Sammlungsgeschichte (TU Berlin / Université de Dschang, 2023), Linden-Museum inventory, p. 467, inv. 054515