This finely woven fan was acquired by a Mr. Hocking in Kamoboue Village in Katanga Province in the southern Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). Mr. Hocking purchased this fan, along with other objects, in the village market. At the time, he was 16 years old. The fan was made by a member of the Chokwe (Badjokwe) ethnic group: farmers and hunters of the woodland savannah of Angola, southwestern Democratic Republic of the Congo, and northern Zambia. Chokwe artisans are renowned for the finely crafted goods they produced for the royal court, including basketry, pottery, and wooden sculptures. Although we have far less information about this fan than we would like, we can say that it is a beautiful example of high-quality, early 20th century Central African craftsmanship. In 1975, Patrick Coakley, of Wayne State University, donated a box of Hocking’s African possessions to the Museum.
In honor of the University of Michigan’s 2017 bicentennial, we are celebrating the remarkable archaeological and ethnographic collections and rich legacy of research and teaching at the Museum of Anthropological Archaeology by posting one entry a day for 200 days. The entries will highlight objects from the collections, museum personalities, and UMMAA expeditions. The Kelsey Museum of Archaeology is also posting each day for 200 days on Twitter and Facebook (follow along at #KMA200). After the last post, an exhibition on two centuries of archaeology at U-M opens at the Kelsey. Visit the exhibit—a joint project of the UMMAA and the Kelsey—from October 18, 2017 to May 27, 2018.