M0014164: Ancestral effigies, Kafiristan

Previous title, replaced January 2022: Ancestral effigies, Kafiristan, India.

Two ancestral effigies from Kafiristan (now Nuristan Province, Afghanistan). Models of the life-sized figures which are placed outside box graves on hillsides one year after death. Offerings of food, bows and arrows are made to them, and public disasters are attributed to the mishandling of them. The equestrian figures represent males and the seated figures represent females. The items were purchased at auction by the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum in 1932 and accessioned in 1936 (accession numbers R3601/1936 and R3605/1936). They are not held by Wellcome Collection.

1955

1 photograph glass plate negative; 10.2 x 12.7 cm

Wellcome Collection holds the accession register which provides entries for the item: acc. number R3601/1936 and R3605/1936 (image 54)

Copyright held by Wellcome Collection

Catalogue data comes from a combination of entries in the original glass plate registers, metadata created when the glass plates were digitised in the early 2000s and enhancements made by the cataloguer in 2022.

Please consult the digitised version as this item is fragile. Email library@wellcomecollection.org to request access to the physical item.