Pillow: MŻo/A/4041
Pillow: MŻo/A/4055
Pillow: MŻo/A/4056
Mat: MŻo/A/4054

Origin: Tuareg (Mali)

Local name:
MŻo/A/4041: adefer ( Tamashek language)
MŻo/A/4055: adefer (Tamashek language)
MŻo/A/4056: adefer (Tamashek language)
MŻo/A/4046: tesehekuat (Tamashek language)

Dating:
MŻo/A/4041: beginning of the 21^st century
MŻo/A/4055: 1990s
MŻo/A/4056: 1990s
MŻo/A/4054: mid – XX century

Dimensions:
MŻo/A/4041: length 152.0 cm, width 46.0 cm, depth 4.5 cm
MŻo/A/4055: length (without fringes) 105.0 cm, width 37.5 cm, depth 3.5 cm                              
MŻo/A/4056: length (without fringes) 84.5 cm, width 37.5 cm, depth 4.0 cm
MŻo/A/4054: length 185 cm, width 89.5 cm, depth 1.5 cm

Materials:
MŻo/A/4041: leather
MŻo/A/4055: leather
MŻo/A/4056: leather
MŻo/A/4054: grass, leather

Techniques:
MŻo/A/4041: tanning
MŻo/A/4055: tanning
MŻo/A/4056: tanning
MŻo/A/4054: braiding

Description:

Pillows and mats are also essential elements of the Tuareg tent equipment. The cushions are used for sitting (large) both in the tent and in the women's camel saddle, but also as sleeping bolsters (small). J. Nicolaisen, describing the Tuareg inventory of the Imezzureg from Aïr (Niger), mentions large cushions (ésteg, plural éstigen), which form the base of the women's camel saddle [Nicolaisen 1963: 97-98].

Pillows are most often found in tents, J. Łapott believes that they are a characteristic element of the Tuareg tent equipment. "Pillows of this type are in a shape similar to a rectangle with arched cut-outs along the entire length of the wider edges. The narrower edges have traces of sewn-in leather fringes and three double pieces of leather in the form of trapezoids on each edge. The back and sides are made of a larger piece, while the smaller one in the form of two trapezoids connected by the peaks and decorated with vertical, striped applications with a geometric pattern (triangles) constitutes the front side. The whole thing is brown, the background of the front part is lighter, the applications are darker" [Łapott 1999: 405]. Like many leather products, they are made by Tuareg women [Rybiński 2015: 29].

Another important element of the tent equipment is the various types of mats that serve as the "walls" of the tent and the mattresses on the beds. They are made from the stalks of the apheus grass (Panicum turgidum), made of straw placed parallel to each other and connected with strips of leather. These mats are known as éseber, tésebert or tesehekuat depending on their use and size. In the Ahaggar region (Algeria) they are used as a kind of windbreak surrounding tents, forming a kind of screen around the Tuareg leather tent. Like the cushions, they are made by women with a long iron needle [Göttler 1989: 239].Wide mats are used as bed covers and, in rare cases, as wind or sun screens, but these mats, which are found in all Tuareg camps together with a large wooden bed (tédabut), are not made in the Aïr region but in the areas to the south, especially by the Tuareg women of Igdalen [Nicolaisen 1963: 269]. They are reinforced at the edges with brown leather and stitched. "The warp of these mats, woven rather than plaited, is also leather. (...) The small dimensions of the beds and mats suggest that the Tuaregs sleep rather in a huddled position, hugging each other tightly (the difference in temperature between night and day)" [Łapott 1999: 402]. The mats, made of dyed leather, are usually decorated with geometric patterns. During the day the mats were rolled up, while at night they were unrolled and served as a mattress [Rybiński 2015: 28-29].

Bibliography:

Göttler Gerhard, 1989, Die Tuareg. Kulturelle Einheit und regionale Vielfalt eines Hirtenvolkes, Köln: DuMont.

Łapott Jacek, 1999, Tuaredzy i ich kultura w zbiorach Muzeum Narodowego w Szczecinie, „Materiały Zachodniopomorskie” v. 44, pp. 387-438.

Nicolaisen Johannes, 1963, Ecology and Culture of the Pastoral Tuareg with Particular Reference to the Tuareg of Ahaggar and Ayr, Copenhagen: The National Museum of Copenhagen.

Rybiński Adam, 2015, Błękitne miraże. Kolekcja tuareska Adama Rybińskiego, Warszawa: Państwowe Muzeum Etnograficzne.

Rybiński Adam, information provided during interviews (2020-2022).

Edited by Lucjan Buchalik

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The purchase is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sport as part of the National Institute of Museums and Collections' own program "Expansion of museum collections".